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01-03-2025
LONDON: An Indian businessman on Friday won his appeal against extradition from Britain to India, with London’s High Court ruling that the “acceptance in India of torture or other serious mistreatment” meant extradition would breach his human rights.
Sanjay Bhandari, who is described by his lawyers as a consultant in the defence sector, is wanted in India on charges of tax evasion and money laundering.
British ministers ordered Bhandari’s extradition in January 2023, which he challenged at the High Court last year.
Bhandari’s lawyers argued that extraditing him would breach his human rights because of the risk of ill treatment by the police or other investigative bodies in India.
The High Court ruling means he will not be extradited to India, subject to any potential appeal.
The judges, Timothy Holroyde and Karen Steyn, said in a written ruling that the use of torture in India to obtain confessions was “commonplace and endemic”.
“In addition, there is some albeit more limited evidence of the use of violence by investigation officers, against those under investigation, to extort money,” they added.
Their ruling also said: “It is apparent that the acceptance in India of torture or other serious mistreatment as a method of evidence-gathering extends beyond the police and investigating bodies, such that it is unlikely that (Bhandari) could look to prison officials for protection from the organizations that are engaged in investigating him.”
India’s High Commission in London did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Sanjay Bhandari, a consultant in the defence sector wanted in India on alleged tax evasion and money-laundering charges, began an appeal in the High Court in London against his extradition order.
The 62-year-old, who had won permission to appeal against his extradition order in the High Court in London earlier this year, applied to the city’s Westminster Magistrates Court through his lawyers to be allowed to reside at a hotel address between July 7 and 11, instead of his court registered London address.
As part of an agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) representing the Indian authorities in the extradition proceedings, part of Bhandari’s bail conditions while his extradition appeal remains ongoing have now been “varied”.
“The bail will be varied between July 7 and 11,” Judge Briony Clark stated.
Then UK Secretary of State, Suella Braverman, had ordered Bhandari’s extradition to face criminal proceedings in India last year following a Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in November 2022.
In March, Justice Pushpinder Saini at the Royal Courts of Justice granted permission to appeal to the businessman, who offered consultancy services to defence manufacturers bidding for Indian government contracts through his firm Offset India Solutions.
“I am satisfied that the grounds are reasonably arguable,” Judge Saini said, paving the way for a full appeal hearing expected later in the year.
The basis for the appeal is that District Judge Michael Snow had “erred in his conclusions” that the offences were extradition offences and a prima facie case had been established against Bhandari.
The case concerns two extradition requests from the Indian authorities, the first concerning an allegation of money laundering, contrary to Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 in India.
