RCN request against defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari sent to Interpol

Bhandari is alleged to have moved to London via Nepal giving a slip to the Delhi police

The CBI has forwarded to the Interpol a request by Delhi Police for a Red Corner Notice against defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari.

Bhandari is alleged to have moved to London via Nepal giving a slip to the police which had registered a case under the provisions of Officials Secrets Act, law to protect confidential documents.

The CBI is the nodal body in India for affairs related to the Lyon-based Interpol. Any agency which wants help of the Interpol has to submit its request to the CBI which then forwards it to the Interpol.

Once the Interpol completes its due procedure, it may issue a Red Corner Notice asking its member countries to arrest Bhandari whenever identified.

But Bhandari has legal options to challenge the notice and also present his case to the Interpol.

Police had registered a case in connection with the recovery of confidential documents of the Ministry of Defence from the residence of Bhandari and his associate during an IT raid in April, 2016.

"The OSA case was registered against Bhandari and his aide in New Delhi district's Parliament Street police station. After a month of probe by the local police, the case was transferred to Crime Branch in November," a Delhi Police officer had said.

During the searches carried out by the Income Tax Department, papers of the Defence Ministry, including those related to a much-delayed proposal to buy mid-air refuellers, were allegedly recovered from his premises.

The FIR was registered in October on a complaint by a senior Defence Ministry official that the documents and copies of classified papers recovered during the raid were violative of the Official Secrets Act.

As per the FIR, the searches were also conducted at a Defence Colony premises occupied by Bhandari's close associate Ashok Shankar.