Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Punit Ojha vs State Bank Of India (2025:Rj-Jd:3262) on 17 January, 2025
Author: Vinit Kumar Mathur
Bench: Vinit Kumar Mathur
[2025:RJ-JD:3262]
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 21340/2024
Punit Ojha S/o Shri Rajendra Kumar Ojha, Aged About 34 Years,
R/o 700, Pratap Mandal, Brahmpuri, Chandpole, Jodhpur,
Rajasthan.
----Petitioner
Versus
1. State Bank Of India, Through Its Manager, Branch-Raika
Bagh, Jodhpur, District - Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
2. The Station House Officer, P.s. Chawani, District- Durg,
Chhatisgarh.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Himanshu Pareek
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Devkinandan Vyas
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINIT KUMAR MATHUR
Order
17/01/2025
Learned counsel for the parties are in agreement that the
controversy involved in the present writ petition is squarely
covered by a judgment rendered by this Court in S.B. Civil Writ
Petition No.20616/2024 (M/s. Shakewallah vs. The Branch
Manager & Ors.), decided on 13.12.2024, which reads as
under :-
"1. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
2. The present writ petition has been filed with the
following prayers:
"I. By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the
respondents may be directed to remove the freeze on the
bank account and money of the petitioner.
[2025:RJ-JD:3262] (2 of 4) [CW-21340/2024]
II. By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the Notice
(Annexure-4) by which the bank account of the petitioner
was put on freeze may kindly be quashed and set aside.
III. By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the
respondents may kindly be directed to pay the 10% interest
per annum on the amount in petitioner's account which has
been put on freeze from the date of the freeze till the date of
release.
IV. By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the
respondents may kindly be restricted from putting the bank
account of the petitioner under freeze in future without any
just reason and reasonable evidence against the petitioner of
being involved in any cyber fraudulent activity.
V. In alternate, the petitioner prays that the petitioner is
ready to submit/ give a bank guarantee of the
disputed/fraudulent amount (as claimed by the respondent
No.2) in the bank. Hence, the respondents may kindly be
directed to remove the freeze on the remaining amount of
money in the bank account of the humble petitioner."
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
the petitioner has never misused his bank account
for the purpose of illegal transactions and has not
committed any cyber crime. Learned counsel for the
petitioner submits that the petitioner is ready and
willing to co-operate with the Investigating Agencies
and will appear before the Bank Authorities and the
Investigating Agencies as and when called upon. He,
therefore, prays that the disputed amount which has
been received in petitioner's account may be freezed
but, the amount other than the disputed amount
may be allowed to be withdrawn. He further prays
that the petitioner may be allowed to operate his
bank account for the transaction of money.
4. Per contra learned counsel for the respondent-
Bank submits that the bank account of the petitioner
has been freezed in pursuance of the Notice received
from respondent No.2-Assistant Police Inspector,
Worli Police Station, Mumbai. Learned counsel for the
[2025:RJ-JD:3262] (3 of 4) [CW-21340/2024]
respondent-Bank also submits that till the matter is
pending investigation, the bank account of the
petitioner may not be closed and he my be directed
not to discontinue the bank account until the
investigation is completed.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioner is agreeable
with the submissions made by counsel for the
respondent-Bank.
6. In view of the submission made before this
Court, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction
to the respondent-Bank to de-freeze the bank
account No.50200039680122 of HDFC Bank Ltd. of
the petitioner and he may be allowed to operate the
transaction in his bank account, freezing only the
amount of Rs.510/- which is allegedly involved in a
fraudulent transaction.
7. It is made clear that the petitioner will co-
operate with the Bank Authorities and the
Investigating Agencies and will appear before them
as and when required. It is also ordered that the
petitioner shall not close or discontinue his bank
account till the Investigating Agencies and Bank
Authorities permit the petitioner to do so. It is
further ordered that after the investigation if the
petitioner is found involved in any illegal transaction,
he shall be liable to pay the amount involved in the
illegal transaction and will face the
enquiry/investigation as per the law.
8. Stay petition and other pending applications, if
any, shall stand disposed of accordingly."
In view of the above, the present writ petition is disposed of
in terms of judgment passed in M/s. Shakewallah (supra).
Additionally, in view of the undertakings submitted by
learned counsel for the petitioner, it is ordered that the petitioner
[2025:RJ-JD:3262] (4 of 4) [CW-21340/2024]
will not use the present Saving Bank Account for commercial
transaction and he will be free to move an appropriate application
for opening the current bank account with the respondent-bank
for commercial transaction.
The stay application and other pending applications, if any,
also stand disposed of.
(VINIT KUMAR MATHUR),J
69-SanjayS/-
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