Court directs bank to defreeze Luthra-linked a/c

Panaji: A Mapusa court directed the manager of a bank in New Delhi to immediately defreeze the current accounts of two private limited companies, one partnership firm and one private limited liability partnership, in which Surabh and Gaurav Luthra are directors or partners.The accounts were frozen in connection with the fire at Birch by Romeo Lane, Arpora, that killed 25 people.The court held that the investigating officer (IO) exceeded his jurisdiction.The court observed that the IO’s reply did not mention which provision of the BNSS was invoked.It noted that the IO relied on Section 106 of the BNSS, which can be invoked only when property is alleged or suspected to be stolen, or when it is found under circumstances creating suspicion of an offence.“Neither of these circumstances as mentioned under Section 106 of BNSS are available nor can be made applicable to the case in hand.Therefore, without going into the merits of the present application, the IO in the present case, by debit freezing the account of the applicant partnership firm, exceeded his jurisdiction or, for that matter, acted beyond his powers,” stated Mapusa JMFC Jude Sequeira.Four applications were filed by Virtue Foods and Beverages Private Limited, Being RL Hospitality LLP, Being FS Pacific Hospitality Private Limited, and Food Studio, through partner Siddharth Dhamija, seeking defreezing of accounts.

Advocate Parag Rao said the entities received a notification on Dec 12 that the accounts were frozen, but no written communication disclosed the reasons.The applications stated that the entities had no connection with Birch by Romeo Lane, Arpora, or the fire incident, had no stake in the business, received no revenue from it, and had no contractual relationship with Birch, the court noted.