Karnataka High Court Upholds Police Account Freezing

The India — Karnataka High Court, presided over by Justice M. Nagaprasanna, upheld the power of police officers to debit-freeze bank accounts during crime investigations under Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, without prior judicial permission. The court clarified that police must freeze accounts and report forthwith to the jurisdictional Magistrate. It quashed earlier orders by the Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru, that had directed the release of seized gold and silver and the de-freezing of bank accounts in a case against M/s JAR Gold Retail Private Limited under the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019. The ruling delineates the boundary between investigative powers (Section 106) and judicial adjudication (Section 107), emphasizing that requiring prior court approval would hamper investigations, especially in digital financial fraud cases. The India — Karnataka State Cyber Command, led by Director General of Police Pronab Mohanty, welcomed the clarification as vital for law enforcement.