Rouse Avenue Court reserves order on ED's plea for confiscation of arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari's properties

New Delhi [India], January 31 (ANI): The Rouse Avenue Court on Saturday reserved its order on the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea for confiscation of Sanjay Bhandari's properties.
Arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari has been declared a proclaimed offender.
Special Judge Sanjay Jindal reserved order after hearing submissions of counsel for ED and the other side. The court will pronounce the order on February 16.
The ED argued that the properties directly concerned with arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari should be confiscated. An application was moved by the ED after Bhandri had been declared a Fugitive Economic Offender. However, the same order is under challenge before the Delhi High Court.
Special public prosecutor (SPP) Naveen Kumar Matta, along with Mohd. Faizan appeared for the ED.
Special counsel for ED, Zoheb Hossain, submitted that to date, no objections have been raised by anyone regarding the properties related to Sanjay Bhandari, which are therefore liable to be confiscated.
The ED informed the court that letters are also to be sent for the confiscation of properties outside India pursuant to the order of the court. The probe agency told the court that the procedure for confiscation is done to deter people from leaving the country to avoid prosecution in a case.
On July 12, the court granted time to Bhandari to exhaust statutory legal remedies against the order declaring him a fugitive economic offender. Bhandari had been declared a fugitive economic offender on July 5, 2025. The next step is to confiscate his properties.
Zoheb Hosain had mentioned before the court that there is a list which included properties in India, Dubai, UK, along with benami property in Noida and Gurugram, a series of bank accounts in his and his wife's name, jewellery and cash, immovable property in Vasant Vihar, Panchsheel shopping complex, and a property in Shahpur Jat.
On July 5, 2025, a Delhi special court declared UK-based arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari a Fugitive Economic Offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act, in connection with an income tax case involving undisclosed foreign assets.
The order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal following a plea by the ED, which alleged that Bhandari had deliberately evaded Indian legal proceedings and possessed foreign assets exceeding Rs 100 crore. The agency emphasised that the UK court's refusal to extradite Bhandari had no bearing on the current proceedings, which are independent and governed by Indian law.
Bhandari, however, contested the ED's plea, arguing that his residence in the UK is lawful and backed by a ruling from the London High Court, which denied his extradition, citing concerns over his safety in Tihar jail. His counsel, senior advocate Maninder Singh, claimed the ED's application was vague, lacked jurisdiction, and failed to meet the legal threshold under the FEO Act.
Singh further argued that the alleged offence did not exceed Rs 100 crore in value, citing a 2020 submission by the Income Tax Department. He also pointed out that Bhandari had been discharged by the UK High Court and no fresh warrants were pending against him.
The UK High Court had earlier blocked Bhandari's extradition on human rights grounds, citing risks of extortion and violence in Indian custody. The Indian government's subsequent attempt to challenge the decision in Britain's Supreme Court was also rejected. (ANI)