Indian court bars police from freezing entire bank accounts in cryptocurrency scam investigation

The Madras High Court in India has ruled that police cannot freeze entire bank accounts in fraud investigations, only the amount in a bank account that is related to the fraud. The ruling follows a case in which an account was frozen in connection with a cryptocurrency investigation. Justice G. Jayachandran stressed that freezing entire accounts deprives individuals of their livelihood and financial stability. He noted that account holders often do not know why their accounts have been frozen and by the time they find out, they have already suffered significant losses in their daily financial and business transactions. Justice Jayachandran also stressed that although the law requires investigating agencies to notify account holders and courts when freezing accounts, this requirement is often ignored. He cited Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code (now replaced by Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Surah Sahita Act), which requires timely reporting of such actions. (Bitcoin.com)