Two months after a Westminster court ordered fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari’s extradition to India. British home secretary Suella Braverman has approved a reference sent to her in this matter, people familiar with the matter. Bhandari now has 14 days to appeal against the extradition in the high court against the order.
Sanjay Bhandari's extradition has been ordered in a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The agency was fighting the case in UK court on behalf of the Indian government.
An alleged aide of Robert Vadra, Bhandari faced two extradition requests from the Indian authorities, the first related to money laundering and the second to tax evasion. The Indian government's extradition request for Bhandari had been certified by UK's then Home Secretary Priti Patel on June 16, 2020, and he was arrested a month later on July 15.
Sanjay Bhandari left India in 2016 following raids at his residence for allegedly possessing classified information on the country's defence purchases. He was later charged under the Official Secrets Act. He had purportedly received a kickback of Rs 328 crore in connection with the Pilatus Aircraft deal. He has also been linked to several other business agreements, including the ONGC deal. In August 2020, ED raided 14 locations related to Bhandari in connection to the Pilatus aircraft scam.
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