ED files chargesheet against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari under PMLA

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari in connection with a money-laundering case against him for alleged possession of undisclosed assets abroad, officials said on Tuesday.

They said the prosecution complaint or the chargesheet was filed on Monday before a special court set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) here.

The court is yet to take congnisance of the chargesheet, the officials said.

They said in the chargesheet, the ED has mentioned about specific charges of alleged possession of undisclosed properties by Bhandari in foreign countries.

This also includes his links to a flat in London, in which the agency had questioned Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and husband of party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

It has been alleged by the agency that Vadra acquired this London-based asset and e-mails purportedly exchanged between him and Bhandari regarding renovation of the flat are part of the evidence in the ED case.

Vadra has denied any wrongdoing. His legal firm had also denied that he owned the London property directly or indirectly.

Bhandari, who the central agency says has never cooperated with it in the probe, has run away from the country and was last stated to be in the UK or a nearby country.

The ED had slapped money-laundering charges against Bhandari and others in February, 2017.

Bhandari's case first came to light after the Income Tax department conducted searches against him in April, 2016 and recovered certain "sensitive" official defence documents from his premises.

The tax department had booked him under criminal charges of the anti-black money law of 2015.