M/S.Ckpl Steels Pvt Ltd v. The Joint Secretary
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 24-06-2025
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE N. ANAND VENKATESH AND WMP NO. 30466 OF 2024
1. M/s.CKPL Steels Pvt Ltd Rep By Its Director, Mr.P.Ajeet Kumar, New No.9/16, 6th Street, Gopalapuram, Chennai-600 086 Petitioner(s) Vs
1. The Joint Secretary Ministry Of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi-110 001 2.The Joint Secretary Cyber And Information Security (C And IS)division, Ministry Of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi-110 001 3.The Deputy Secretary CIS-II, Desk, Cyber And Information Security (C And IS)division, Ministry Of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi110 001 4.The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, 5th Floor, NDCC-II
Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110 001 5.The Inspector Of Police Cyber Crime Police Station, 1st Floor, Old IGP Office, Athwalines, Surat Gujarat395001 6.The Inspector Of Police Bekal Police Station, Palakunnu, Kasaragod, Kerala-671318 7.The Inspector Of Police Dobbaspet Police Station, Tumkur Main Road, Nelamangala Taluk, Dobbaspet, Karnataka562 111 8.The Inspector Of Police Kadugodi Police Station, Kadugodi Colony, Kadugodi, Bangalore Karnataka-560 067 9.The Inspector Of Police South Central Crime Police Station, 13th A CrossRoad, Thyagaraja Nagar, Basavanagudi, Bangalore, Karnataka-560 070 10.The Inspector Of Police Pune City Cyber Police Station, Police Headquarters Shivajinagar, Pune, Maharashtra-411 005 11.The Inspector Of Police Navi Mumbai Cyber Police Office, Belapur, Navi Mumbai-400 614 12.The Principal Nodal Officer IDFC First Bank Ltd, Building No.2, Raheja Mindspace, MIDC
Industrial Area, Shiravane, Juinagar, Nerul, Navi Mumbai400 706 13.The Regional Nodal Officer IDFC First Bank Ltd, Plot No. 7b, Gandhi Mandapam Road, 1st Floor, Kottupuram, Chennai-600 14.The Branch Manager R.K.Salai Branch, IDFC First Bank Ltd, No.1, Ground Floor, Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai, Iv Street, Opp.To Auras Corporate Centre, Mylapore, Chennai-600 Respondent(s) PRAYER This writ petition has been filed of the issue of writ of Mandamus directing the 1st to 4th respondent to frame a guideline/mechanism to be adopted before freezing of bank accounts by the cyber crime police located all over the states and union territory and further direct the 5th to 11th respondents police to give necessary instruction to 12th to 14th respondents bank for forthwith de-freeze the petitioners company bank account i.e.Current Account No.10074757607 of IDFC First Bank R.K.Salai Branch. For Petitioner(s): Mr.K.Natarajan Senior counsel for M/s.A.Madhumathi For Respondent(s):
M/s. Venkataswamy Babu Senior panel counsel For R1 To R4
ORDER
This writ petition has been filed for the issue of writ of Mandamus directing the respondents 1 to 4 to frame guidelines for freezing of bank accounts by police and for a consequential direction to the respondents 5 to 11 to instruct the respondents 12 to 14 to forthwith defreeze the bank account maintained by the petitioner in the 14th respondent bank.
2.
When the writ petition came up for hearing on 20.06.2025, this Court passed the following order:- The respondents 5 to 14 have been served and all their names have been printed in the cause list.
2.
Learned Central Government Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of respondents 1 to 4 submitted that a direction has been sought for to frame guidelines/mechanism to be adopted for freezing of bank account.
3.
Before going into the larger issue that has been sought for in the present writ petition, this Court is inclined to consider the petition filed for interim direction directing respondents 12 to 14 to mark a sum of Rs.30,37,636/- as lien and to allow the petitioner to operate their bank account in the fourteenth respondent bank. 4.
Learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the
petitioner submitted that a total of Rs.36,00,000/- is now claimed by the different police stations and this amount can be marked and kept as lien and the petitioners can be permitted to operate the bank account since freezing of the bank account has virtually brought the running of the business to a standstill. 5.
In view of the above submission made by the learned Senior Counsel, there shall be a direction to the petitioner to file a calculation memo by providing all the particulars. Based on the same, an order can be passed in the interim application. Post this writ petition under the caption 'for orders' on 24.06.2025.
3.
Pursuant to the above order, the calculation table has been submitted before this Court and for proper appreciation the same is extracted hereunder :-
4.
Heard Mr.K.Natarajan, learned Senior counsel for the petitioner and Mr.Venkataswamy Babu, learned Senior Panel Counsel for R1 to R4. The other respondents have been served with notice and their names have also been printed in the cause list. 5.
The issue with regard to framing guidelines to be adopted for freezing of bank accounts by Cyber crime police is a larger issue which has to be dealt with by the legislature and as such, it is governed by the provisions of BNSS. Therefore, this Court is not inclined to go into this relief that has been sought for in the present writ petition.
6.
This Court is more concerned about the petitioner being deprived of operating the bank account maintained in the 14th respondent bank. Therefore, in order to strike a balance and in order to ensure that the amount that is now disputed as per the intimation that has been sent to the bank by various investigating agencies, the same shall be kept in lien and the petitioner can be permitted to operate the bank account. This will safeguard the right of the
petitioner and it will also safeguard the interest of the investigation agency.
7.
In view of the above, there shall be a direction to the 14th respondent to mark a sum of Rs.35,77,638/- as lien and the petitioner shall be permitted to deal with the bank account and operate the same for all other purposes. The 14th respondent bank shall issue an intimation in this regard to respondents 5 to 11. If in future, the lien for the said amount continues without any development, it is left open to the petitioner to approach this Court and seek for appropriate directions.
8.
This writ petition is disposed of with the above directions. No costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petition is closed.
24-06-2025 rka Index:Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order Internet:Yes
To 1.The Joint Secretary Ministry Of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi-110 001 2.The Joint Secretary Cyber And Information Security (c And Is)division, Ministry Of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi-110 001 3.The Deputy Secretary Cis-ii, Desk, Cyber And Information Security (c And Is)division, Ministry Of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi110 001 4.The Chief Executive Officer(ceo) Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, 5th Floor, NDCC-II Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110 001 5.The Inspector Of Police Cyber Crime Police Station, 1st Floor, Old Igp Office, Athwalines, Surat Gujarat-395001 6.The Inspector Of Police Bekal Police Station, Palakunnu, Kasaragod, Kerala-671318 7.The Inspector Of Police Dobbaspet Police Station, Tumkur Main Road, Nelamangala Taluk, Dobbaspet, Karnataka562 111 8.The Inspector Of Police Kadugodi Police Station, Kadugodi Colony, Kadugodi,
Bangalore Karnataka-560 067 9.The Inspector Of Police South Central Crime Police Station, 13th A Cross Road, Thyagaraja Nagar, Basavanagudi, Bangalore, Karnataka-560 070 10.The Inspector Of Police Pune City Cyber Police Station, Police Headquarters Shivajinagar, Pune, Maharashtra-411 005 11.The Inspector Of Police Navi Mumbai Cyber Police Office, Belapur, Navi Mumbai-400 614 12.The Principal Nodal Officer Idfc First Bank Ltd, Building No.2, Raheja Mindspace, Midc Industrial Area, Shiravane, Juinagar, Nerul, Navi Mumbai400 706 13.The Regional Nodal Officer Idfc First Bank Ltd, Plot No. 7b, Gandhi Mandapam Road, 1st Floor, Kottupuram, Chennai-600 14.The Branch Manager R.K.Salai Branch, IDFC First Bank Ltd, No.1, Ground Floor, Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai, Iv Street, Opp.To Auras Corporate Centre, Mylapore, Chennai-600
N.ANAND VENKATESH J.
rka WMP NO. 30466 OF 24-06-2025