A top-tier team comprising the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and National Investigation Agency (NIA) is set to depart for UK with the aim of expediting the extradition process of India’s three most sought-after fugitives, Times of India has reported. As per the report, these most wanted fugitives include defense dealer Sanjay Bhandari, diamond trader Nirav Modi and Kingfisher Airlines promoter Vijay Mallya. In order to seize the “proceeds of crime,” efforts are being made to locate their properties in the UK and other nations, the report stated. The team is headed by a top officer from the foreign ministry, the sources informed TOI.
In addition to this, they added that The Indian High Commission in London has also arranged talks with the UK authorities in order to obtain the pending information related to the assets these fugitives acquire in London as well as their banking transaction details.
Sanjay Bhandari had fled to the UK in 2016 and the British government approved his extradition to India in January last year acting on the legal request made by the ED and the CBI. “Sanjay Bhandari held various undisclosed foreign income and assets including the following properties at no 12 Bryanston Square, London and 6 Grosvenor Hill Court, London, ED had said as reported by PTI. Sanjay Bhandari is also allegedly a close associate of Priyanka Gandhi’s husband, Robert Vadra.
Speaking of Nirav Modi, he was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant based on CBI and ED charges against the businessman. Earlier in November, he had told a UK court that he could be in England for years as some ongoing proceedings prevent his extradition. Taking note of the uncertainty, the case related to the unpaid fines was adjourned to February 8, 2024, when Nirav would again be expected to appear via video link from prison. In 2022, Nirav lost his legal battle in the highest UK court against being extradited to India in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case. But his case is now said to be “statute barred”, indicating further pending litigation which could be linked to a confidential asylum application.
There are three sets of criminal proceedings against the diamantaire in India – the CBI case of fraud on the PNB which caused losses equivalent to over GBP 700 million, the ED case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings. The then UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had ordered Nirav’s extradition based on Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in April 2021.
Kingfisher Airlines promoter Vijay Mallya, is accused in a bank loan default case of over ₹9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is presently in the United Kingdom. Last year, the CBI had claimed in its supplementary chargesheet filed in a court that Mallya had bought properties worth ₹330 crore in England and France during 2015-16 even as his Kingfisher Airlines was facing a cash crunch at that time and banks had not recovered the loans defaulted by the liquor baron. On January 5, 2019, a special court in Mumbai had declared Mallya a ‘fugitive’.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Published: 16 Jan 2024, 09:47 AM IST