3 min readMay 2, 2026 09:52 AM IST
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has declared 21 people, including businessmen Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari, and Hajra Iqbal Memon (wife of the late Iqbal Mirchi, gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide), as fugitive economic offenders (FEOs) over the past seven years, according to its annual report.
An FEO is an individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a scheduled offence, where the total value involved in such offence or offences is Rs 100 crore or more, has been issued by any court in India, and who has left India to avoid criminal prosecution or being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
However, the report added, decisions to declare diamond trader Mehul Choksi, Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, and Mahadev app promoters Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal as FEOs under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) remain sub judice in courts.
The central agency’s annual report, released on Friday, states that proceedings under FEOA have been initiated against 54 individuals to date, with 21 declared FEOs and assets worth around Rs 2,178.34 crore confiscated. “Out of these 21, nine individuals were declared FEOs in 2025-26 itself,” the report noted.
According to the report, the ED’s performance under FEOA in the past two financial years—2024-25 and 2025-26—shows significant asset recovery and a rising number of offenders declared as fugitives. “This reflects ED’s commitment to swiftly act against those fleeing India to evade prosecution,” it said.
Citing Bhandari as an example, the report noted that a special court (PMLA) declared him an FEO last year following ED’s application on December 13, 2019, under FEOA. A UK-based arms dealer, Bhandari fled to London after income tax raids in 2016. He escaped India via Nepal in 2016, and an Interpol Red Notice was issued against him in October 2017.
“Probes revealed undisclosed foreign income of Rs 655 crore and foreign assets exceeding Rs 100 crore. Between 2009 and 2016, he deposited huge sums into overseas shell company accounts and invested in properties in the UAE and UK. ED filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) against him in 2020 and a supplementary PC in 2023. ED has now sought confiscation of his properties before the Special Court (PMLA), Rouse Avenue Court,” the report said.
