Joint ED-CBI-NIA Team to UK for Extradition of Fugitives like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi

2024-01-16 06:45:31

New Delhi: A high-level joint team of CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) will soon go to the UK to speed up efforts to bring back Vijay Mallya and others who fled India after committing a multi-crore fraud.

Arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, diamond merchant Nirav Modi and Kingfisher owner Vijay Mallya are on the list. In the UK and other countries, efforts are also being made to find and confiscate their property. The investigation team will go to the UK under the leadership of a senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs. The team will hold discussions with concerned officials of various agencies in the UK.

The London-bound team has been negotiating with UK authorities for some time under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). Both the UK and India are signatories to the MLAT. Accordingly, they are obliged to share information about criminal investigations related to financial offenders. Although the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal ministry for dealing with all matters related to the MLT, the Ministry of External Affairs is also involved in diplomatic interactions with the UK regarding the case. All requests in this regard are sent to foreign countries through the Ministry of External Affairs.

Arms dealer Sanjay Bhandali left India in 2016. Bhandari is being investigated in connection with arms deals during the UPA regime. Bhandari is a close friend of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra. Bhandari, who had acquired properties in London and Dubai, had transferred them to shell companies controlled by CC Thambi, an alleged aide of Robert Vadra.

In addition to Bhandari, the ED has also charged Thampi and Vadra with respect to remuneration received from multiple defense deals. An investigation is underway. Bhandari’s assets worth Rs 26 crore in India are ED. It had already been confiscated and a chargesheet had been filed. Like Mallya and Modi, Bhandari has been declared a financial offender by the special court.

Nirav Modi is wanted in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) coup. The case against Vijay Mallya is that he cheated the banks by not repaying the loan. Mallya’s properties worth more than 5,000 crores were ED. It was confiscated.

English Summary:

ED-CBI-NIA team going to UK to hasten fugitives’ extradition