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Teesta Atul Setalvad v. The State of Gujarat

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 1239Decided 15 Dec 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 1099 of 2017
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar

Background

This appeal was one of four connected appeals (also including Javed Iftekher Ahmed Anand, Citizens for Justice & Peace, and Sabrang Trust) arising from an FIR alleging that activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband, and two NGOs they ran had collected crores of rupees in donations in the name of helping 2002 Gujarat riot victims (specifically, Gulberg Society residents) but diverted much of it for personal use. Police froze nine bank accounts belonging to the appellants and the two Trusts under Section 102 of the CrPC, and courts below (the Magistrate and the Gujarat High Court) refused to lift the freeze.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that Section 102 CrPC gives police wide power to seize "property", including bank accounts, where there is a reasonable suspicion of an offence, and does not require prior notice to the account holder before freezing; it also does not require the property to already be proven as "proceeds of crime," only that circumstances create suspicion. Given substantial, unexplained discrepancies in the Trusts' accounts (large transfers to personal accounts and a private company, heavy cash withdrawals, and accounts left unaudited for years), and the appellants' lack of cooperation with the ongoing investigation, the Court found continued freezing justified at this stage. It dismissed the appeals, while clarifying that once the investigation concludes, the investigating officer should de-freeze any accounts found not to be tainted.

Lesson Learnt

Police can freeze a person's or organisation's bank accounts during an investigation under Section 102 CrPC without giving advance notice, so long as there are circumstances creating a genuine suspicion of an offence; account holders seeking to get frozen funds released are generally expected to cooperate with the investigation first and press for de-freezing once it is substantially complete.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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