Mohammed Saifullah Vs Reserve Bank of India (Madras High Court)
Madras High Court held that under the guise of investigation, order freezing the entire account without quantifying the amount and period cannot be passed. Such order will be construed as violation of the fundamental rights of trade and business.
Facts- In the present case, petitioner is suspected to be dealing with cryptocurrency, the case is under investigation by the Cyber Crime Bureau of Cyberabad, Telangana, registered on 16.05.2023. The fifth respondent Bank has been instructed to freeze the account of the petitioner herein. The communication received by the Bank indicates that around Rs.2,48,835/- is the suspected money involved in the subject matter of the crime under investigation. Meticulously, in reference to the instructions received from National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and the notice from the Telugana Cyber Crime Bureau, the fifth respondent has freezed the account.
In the said account of the petitioner a sum of Rs.9,69,580/-stands as balance. Even after lapse of more than a year neither the Investigating Agency nor the Bank had informed the petitioner as to why the account is freezed and how long the account will be kept under freeze. In the said circumstances, the petitioner is before this Court seeking for Mandamus to release the entire amount in his account by ordering de-freezing of the account.
