The Federal Investigation Agency informed the judge that its application seeks to declare Bhandari’s “fugitive” is currently being heard in another court in Delhi, which will hear the matter on May 3.
The judge noted that the opinion submitted by ED’s special prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta and released the matter on May 26 for further litigation in the case.
Bhandari’s lawyers opposed the court’s seeking to declare a “fugitive” defense, claiming his stay in the UK was legal as the London High Court refused his extradition to India.
The order of the London High Court in Bhandari was filed by the English court on April 11 to reject the Indian government’s request to extradite another alleged multi-million-meter rice purchase scam.
Mehul Choksi, a fugitive recently arrested in Belgium, also reportedly cited an HC order against his extradition to India trial in connection with alleged fraud in the Punjab State Bank. Bhandari’s name also appears in Ed’s ongoing investigation, in the money laundering case against Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. In February, the High Court in London, England allowed Bhandari to appeal his extradition to face alleged charges of tax evasion and money laundering, saying here, in Tihar prison, he would face “real risk” of blackmail, accompanied by threats or “actual violence” from other prisoners.
The UK’s High Court earlier this month also rejected a petition filed by the Indian government, demanding an appeal against its order in the UK’s Supreme Court.
The London High Court allowed Bhandari to appeal on human rights grounds.
The court also ordered the “release” from the extradition order of then-UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman to face criminal proceedings in India under a November 2022 Westminster District Court ruling.
