Chhattisgarh High Court: Rajendra Singh Samant, J., dismissed the petition being devoid of merits.
The facts of the case are such that the applicant was charge-sheeted for trial in offence under Sections 13(1)(e) read with 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act which was challenged before this Court and was disposed off vide directions to receive the passbooks of the bank accounts, which were under seizure nut will not be able to operate the bank accounts, as there is no specific direction of the Special Court for operation of the accounts. The instant Criminal Revision was filed challenging the legality, propriety and correctness of this order by Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act), Raipur, by dismissing the prayer of the applicant to defreeze the bank account, which has been seized by the respondent.
Counsel for the petitioners Mr Kishore Bhaduri and Sunny Agrawal submitted that the prohibitory order of the respondent regarding operation of the bank account is uncalled for in the present situation, hence, it is prayed that the revision petition may be allowed and the impugned order may be set aside and relief be granted to the applicant.
Counsel for the respondent Mr Adil Minhaj submitted that the amount in the bank accounts can be regarded as property under seizure has been acquired unlawfully, cannot be allowed to be disbursed or disposed when the charge sheet has been filed and the prosecution has not come to an end.
The Court relied on judgment State of Maharashtra v. Tapas D. Neogy, (1999) 7 SCC 685 wherein it was held as under
“Then again the time consumed by the Courts in concluding the trials is another factor which should be borne in mind in interpreting the provisions of Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code and the underlying object engrafted therein, inasmuch as if there can be no order of seizure of the bank account of the accused then the entire money deposited in a bank which is ultimately held in the trial to be the outcome of the illegal gratification, could be withdrawn by the accused and the Courts would be powerless to get the said money which has any direct link with the commission of the offence committed by the accused as a public officer. We are, therefore, persuaded to take the view that the bank account of the accused or any of his relation is `property’ within the meaning of Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code and a police officer in course of investigation can seize or prohibit the operation of the said account if such assets have direct links with the commission of the offence for which the police officer is investigating into.”
The Court observed that the money in the bank account may be regarded as a property and the seizure of such property on suspicion that it is connected with commission of offence held as property within the meaning of Section 102 of Criminal Procedure Code i.e. Cr.PC and the police officer also has power to prohibit the operation of such account, if such assets have linkages with the commission of offence.
The Court thus held that there is a clear conclusion of the Investigation Agency against the applicant that he has amassed wealth, acquired assets, which are disproportionate to his income “…and the prosecution against the applicant is under contemplation by the respondent side, therefore, no order can be passed to defreeze the bank accounts, which have been seized from this applicant.”
In view of the above, the instant petition was dismissed and disposed off.[Ramesh Kumar Sharma v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2021 SCC OnLine Chh 902, decided on 12-04-2021]
Arunima Bose, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.