Tamasha Samanta Vs Union of India & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
In Tamasha Samanta Vs Union of India & Ors., the Calcutta High Court considered a writ petition seeking directions to IDBI Bank to defreeze the petitioner’s current bank account maintained at the Konnagar Branch in West Bengal. The account had been frozen on 13 May 2024 following a request from the Cyber Cell Department of Odisha.
The petitioner submitted that an amount of ₹6,50,000 had been transferred to the account by the petitioner’s mother on the same date. According to the petitioner, the account was frozen without any notice or intimation. The petitioner made requests to the concerned authorities, and representations were forwarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Director General of Police, Odisha, seeking appropriate action. A further communication dated 7 August 2025 was also sent to the DGP, Odisha. However, no action was taken to defreeze the account. The petitioner also stated that no illegal transaction had been conducted through the account and that the freezing of the account was causing difficulty in running the petitioner’s business.
The bank submitted that the account had been frozen based on the request of the Cyber Cell Department through the cyber crime portal and in accordance with the applicable Standard Operating Procedure. The bank stated that it could not remove the lien unless it received written information or a no-objection certificate from the Cyber Cell authorities. The counsel for the Reserve Bank of India stated that no communication had been received from the petitioner.
