Sanjay Bhandari Gets Reprieve As UK Court Stops Fugitive Businessman's Extradition To India On 'Torture' Concerns

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Sanjay Bhandari , an Indian businessman wanted in India on alleged tax evasion and money laundering charges, on Friday won his appeal against extradition from Britain to India in London's High Court.

Bhandari is an accused middleman in the defence sector who is contesting his extradition to India on alleged tax evasion and money laundering charges.

The Royal Courts of Justice in London ruled that the "acceptance in India of torture or other serious mistreatment" meant extradition would breach Bhandari's human rights.

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In January 2023, UK ministers had ordered Bhandari's extradition which he challenged at the High Court last year.

The 62-year-old businessman had won permission to appeal against a November 2022 Westminster Magistrates' Court ruling clearing his extradition 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 agencies in India.

The use of torture in India to obtain confessions was "commonplace and endemic", Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde and Justice Karen Steyn said in a written order.

"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.

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"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 organisations that are engaged in investigating him," the court also said.

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