London: British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has ordered the extradition of Sanjay Bhandari, an accused middleman and consultant in arms deals, for trial in an Indian court in tax evasion and money laundering cases, media reported.

The order was issued last week and Bhandari now has 14 days until the end of January to appeal against the order in the administrative division of the High Court in London.

This comes two months after a UK court ruled that Bhandari could be extradited to India to face the money laundering and tax evasion charges, paving the way for the British government to issue the order.

The court said that Bhandari failed to declare his overseas income and assets and benefitted from the undeclared income and assets.

The Indian government's extradition request for Bhandari had been certified by then-UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in June 2020.

He was arrested on an extradition warrant, the next month.

The cases have been filed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the intended prosecution for an offence of money laundering contrary to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 and for offences of tax evasion contrary to the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Asset), Imposition of Tax Act 2015 and Income Tax Act 1961.