IMPORTANT POINT
The central legal point established in the judgment is that the freezing of a bank account under Section 102 of Cr.P.C requires the fulfillment of pre-conditions, including a reasonable suspicion of the property being stolen or connected to the commission of an offence.

ORDER :

This Writ Petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is filed by the petitioner, seeking the following relief:

“…to issue an order, direction or writ more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus thereby declaring the act of the Respondent No.3 in freezing the accounts of the petitioner as mentioned in the affidavit on the basis of the Letter dated 05.08.2020 issued by the Respondent No.2 is not only illegal, arbitrary but also contrary to the law and principles of natural justice and affecting the rights as envisaged under Article 14 and 19 of Constitution of India and consequently, quashing the letter issued by the Respondent No.2 and directing Respondent No.3 to defreeze the account of the Petitioner and pass such other order or orders…..”.

2. It is the case of the petitioner that she was holding Savings Bank account with the respondent No.3-bank with Account No.333401502030, which has a balance of Rs.6,40,876.26/- and that she was doing regular transactions in the said account. It is further case of the petitioner that in the first week of August, 2020, when she was not allowed to operate her account, she enquired with the respondent No.3 and came to know that her account was freezed. It is further case of the petitioner that respondent No.3-bank gave her a copy of notice dated 05.08.2020 said to have been issued by the respondent No.2 to the respondent No.3-bank requesting to furnish the statement of account of the petitioner and also to freeze the said account for the purpose of investigation in Crime No.681/2020 on the file of Miyapur Police Station, registered for the offences under Sections 420, 354, 363 and 506 of IPC. It is further case of the petitioner that neither she is concerned with the said crime nor she was arrayed as an accused in the said crime. The respondent No.2 without proper verification, has issued the impugned notice dated 05.08.2020 to the respondent No.3-bank and based on the said notice, the respondent No.3 freezed the account of the petitioner, without informing the petitioner, which is contrary to law and principles of natural justice and violation of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India.

3. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has vehemently argued that the bank account of the petitioner was freezed alleging to be a crime property in Crime No.681/2020 dated 23.07.2020 on the file of Miyapur Police Station. The petitioner has nothing to do with the said Crime and till date, the petitioner was not called by the police for any kind of investigation. It is further submitted that the respondent No.2 has completed investigation in the said crime and filed charge sheet before the VIII Additional Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, at Kukatpally, Cyberabad and in the charge sheet, neither the petitioner was arrayed as an accused nor the bank account of the petitioner was shown as crime property. Further, there is no whisper in the charge sheet about the freezing of bank account of the petitioner. It is further submitted that respondents do not have any authority to freeze the bank account of the petitioner and ultimately, prayed to allow the writ petition, as prayed for.

4. Per contra, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Home, appearing for the respondent Nos.1 and 2 has submitted that the expression ‘any property’ appearing in Sub-Section (1) of Section 102 of Cr.P.C, would include a bank account creating suspicion about commission of an offence. It is further argued that as per the information furnished by the accused, some bank accounts which were held in the names of the accused and their family members were identified and they include the bank account of the petitioner and therefore, the respondent No.2 has issued impugned notice dated 05.08.2020 to the respondent No.3-bank to furnish the details of bank account statement of certain account