Patna Law Notes

  Section 102 of the CrPC empowers a police officer to seize ‘any property’ that is either stolen or suspected to have been stolen, or which may be found under circumstances which create suspicion of the commission of an offence. This section also requires the seizing police officer to forthrightly report any such seizure to a Magistrate having appropriate jurisdiction over the matter involved. It is a well-settled position of the law that the bank accounts of the accused and his relatives fall under the purview of ‘any property’ as per section 102 CrPC. However, the Supreme Court has clarified that it would be too harsh and inappropriate to seize the immovable property of the accused based merely on suspicion. In general, the police have been evoking this section to freeze bank accounts linked to cases of online fraud, financial scams and money laundering. It is understood that freezing suspicious accounts prevents scamsters from transferring money to safer locations beyond the re