The Supreme Court, in The State Of West Bengal v. Anil Kumar Dey [2025 INSC 1413], held that the police and investigating agencies have the power to freeze the bank account of a person under Section 102 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) or Section 106 of the BNSS, when a proceeding is initiated against them under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PC Act).
The Court clarified that the general seizure powers under the CrPC operate independently and are not displaced by the special attachment mechanism provided in the PC Act.
While deciding this case, the Supreme Court held that the observation in Ratan Babulal Lath v. State of Karnataka [(2022) 16 SCC 287]—where it was observed that the PC Act is a complete code and therefore account-freezing under the CrPC is impermissible—does not amount to a binding precedent as it was made without any detailed analysis or discussion.
