A Delhi court on Saturday (July 5, 2025) declared U.K.-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari a fugitive economic offender on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) plea, officials said. The court issued the order under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) of 2018, they said.

The order has come as a shot in the arm for the federal probe agency as it will now be able to confiscate assets worth crores of rupees of Bhandari, whose chances to come to India have been virtually nullified after a U.K. court recently ruled against his extradition. Mr. Bhandari, 63, fled to London in 2016, soon after the Income Tax (I-T) department raided him in Delhi.

The ED filed a criminal case against Bhandari and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in February 2017, taking cognisance of the I-T department charge sheet filed against him under the anti-black money law of 2015.

The agency filed its first charge sheet against him in 2020.