Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has stressed that there cannot be any discrimination or high-handedness in freezing bank accounts on the instructions of investigating agencies in cyber fraud cases. A division bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddharth Nandan was examining the procedure adopted by authorities in relation to the freezing of bank accounts linked to cyber fraud cases. The court noted that banks often freeze accounts without providing much information to the account holders. Hearing a writ petition filed by one Tarkeswar Tiwari, the court observed, “Multiple writ petitions reveal that banks are freezing accounts based on instructions from police or cyber crime authorities, leaving account holders in a limbo. When approached, banks cite letters from these agencies as the reason for the freeze, without providing further details.”“However, the said letters till date have not been brought on record despite specific instructions on the previous dates,” the court said in its Feb 10 order. It directed the Centre to address such concerns, adding that though various courts have dealt with the issue, procedural anomalies continue to exist.
