Revoke Sanjay Bhandari’s passport: police to MEA

Four months after the police attached Bhandari’s properties worth more than Rs 20 crore, including four luxury cars, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week provisionally attached assets worth Rs 26 crore belonging to Bhandari and others in connection with a case of forex violations. The ED said it had seized the properties under Section 37A of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) “in lieu of undisclosed assets held abroad by him (Bhandari)”. The ED had booked Bhandari under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and under FEMA last February.

“A few days ago, a letter was written to the MEA by DCP (Crime) Bhisham Singh requesting them to revoke Bhandari’s passport,” a senior police officer said. The south-western range (SWR) of Crime Branch has moved an application before a Delhi court requesting them to declare him a proclaimed offender but the matter is still pending in the court, the police said.

Sources said that Interpol had accepted a request to issue an RCN against Bhandari around one and a half months ago. “Interpol had rejected their request, telling Delhi Police via CBI that the case appeared to be political in nature and did not fulfil the criteria to issue an RCN. But the police explained to them that Bhandari procured all these secret documents for the benefit of his company and it was not related to any political party,” a source added.

Delhi Police last year booked him for alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act and the SWR started investigating the case after it was transferred to them from Parliament Street police station.