One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below
Bank Account Frozen After a Cyber Crime Complaint
TL;DR: When a bank account is frozen in a cyber crime case, the instruction comes from a police officer, not from the bank, and it is usually passed under Section 106 of the BNSS — the provision that replaced Section 102 of the old CrPC. Your bank cannot lift it; only the investigating officer who ordered it, or the court with jurisdiction over that police station, can. What you do in the first few weeks decides how long the freeze lasts.
It began with a line in the banking app
The app said the account was under a lien. Nothing more. At the branch, the staff could see the same line on their screen and nothing behind it — a police station in another state, an FIR number, and a figure. He had never spoken to that station. He had never been to that state. The rent was due on the first.
The first week went in calling the branch, then the customer care line, then the branch again. Everyone was polite. Nobody could do anything.
What follows is the law on this situation, not a verdict on his. We have his version of events and, at that stage, very little else. Whether the attachment in his case holds up depends on documents nobody had shown either of us yet.
Key facts about a freeze
- The freeze is a police instruction to the bank. The bank is only obeying it.
- It can cover one account or every account you hold with that bank, and sometimes banks act on the same instruction in parallel.
- You may not be an accused at all. Money that merely passed through your account can sit in the trail of someone else's complaint.
- The instruction will name a police station and an FIR or complaint number. Get both in writing from your branch.
- No branch manager, no customer care number and no ombudsman can remove it.
Why the police attach an account at all
Most cyber crime complaints involve money moving quickly through several accounts before it leaves the banking system. Investigators trace the trail and attach whatever it touched, working on the assumption that the money is proceeds of crime. Section 106 of the BNSS gives a police officer the power to attach, seize or forfeit property, and a bank balance is treated as property. Until the BNSS came into force on 1 July 2024, this was done under Section 102 of the CrPC.
Two things follow. First, the attachment is usually about the transaction, not about you as a person. Second, the officer who passed the order is the one who can undo it — and that officer answers to a court in the district where the FIR is registered, which is often nowhere near where you live.
Can a bank account frozen by cyber crime police be unfrozen?
Yes, and it happens often. But there is no form, no portal and no helpline that does it. The route is this:
- Find out who ordered it. Ask your branch for the written communication received from the police — the station, the district, the FIR number, and the officer's name if it appears. A bank is not supposed to hold that back from you.
- Write to the investigating officer. Keep it short: identify the account, state why the money came in, and attach proof — statements, invoices, contracts, chat records, the source of the credit. Email where you can, and keep the acknowledgement.
- Respond to any notice of appearance. Cyber crime police frequently issue a notice under Section 35(3) of the BNSS asking a person to appear. Go, with a lawyer if the sums are large. Ignoring it turns a paperwork problem into an arrest risk.
- If that stalls, move the court. An application lies before the magistrate or court having jurisdiction over the police station that registered the case, seeking release of the attached property. Courts have taken different views on how far they will interfere while the investigation is at an early stage, so both the forum and the timing matter.
The bank, the ombudsman and the portal
Three things people try that rarely work on their own. A complaint to the bank's grievance cell usually gets you a letter confirming the freeze, which is genuinely useful, but the bank still cannot release the money. The RBI ombudsman deals with failures of the bank, not with a police order. And cybercrime.gov.in is a reporting portal — it is not a channel for lifting an attachment, though a complaint there can help fix your side of the story if you were the one defrauded.
If you are filing documents electronically — statements, screenshots, invoices — keep them in a form that will survive later scrutiny. Electronic records now need a certificate under Section 63 of the BSA, 2023 to be relied on as evidence, and it is far easier to assemble that at the beginning than months afterwards.
What to send, and how long it takes
Time is the honest answer, and it varies. An officer satisfied by clean documents may release the funds within a few weeks. Where the money is still being traced, or where the account has received transfers from several unrelated complainants, it can run to months, and sometimes the attachment survives until the charge sheet or beyond.
When you write to a lawyer about this, send four things:
- The freeze communication, or if you do not have it, the statement page showing the lien.
- The FIR number, police station and district.
- A two-line note on why the money entered your account — salary, sale proceeds, rent, payment for work done.
- Any notice received from the police, with its date.
When there may be nothing to argue
Some freezes are hard to fight, and it is better to say so early. If your account received funds from a complainant and you passed them on within hours
...and the complaint traces that exact trail, you may end up looking like a link in the chain rather than a bystander. That does not make you guilty of anything, but it does mean the officer has a reason to hold the money while he checks. Where the credits are sales proceeds with invoices behind them, GST returns, delivery proofs, the position is usually workable. Where the account was lent to a relative, or used to receive and forward payments for a small commission, there is often no honest answer that helps, and the sensible aim becomes limiting exposure rather than getting the balance back quickly.
One practical point that is easy to miss: the BNSS requires the officer who attaches property to report it to the magistrate having jurisdiction. If no such report appears to have been made, that is a point your lawyer can raise, because the attachment is meant to be under judicial supervision and not an open-ended police hold. Courts have taken differing views on how quickly they will interfere during an active investigation, so the same argument that works before one magistrate may be refused before another.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find out which police station froze my account?
Ask the branch in writing for the communication it received from the police. Banks routinely share the station, district and case number with the account holder, though they sometimes withhold the officer's contact details. If the branch refuses, a written request citing your right as an account holder usually moves things, and a complaint to the bank's grievance cell produces a paper trail you can use later.
Am I an accused if my account is frozen?
Not necessarily. An attachment under Section 106 of the BNSS is a step against property, not a finding against a person. Plenty of account holders are witnesses whose account merely received or forwarded funds. That said, if a notice under Section 35(3) of the BNSS has been served on you, the police want you to appear and answer questions, and you should treat that seriously.
Can I open a new account at another bank?
Nothing stops you from opening one, and most banks will. But a fresh account does not shelter you — if the investigation covers your dealings generally, that account can be attached too. If you do open one, use it plainly and keep the records clean. Do not route the disputed money through it.
Does the freeze affect a joint account or my family's money?
An instruction naming the account will ordinarily operate on the whole account, even if a joint holder had nothing to do with the transaction. Whether a co-holder can get their share released depends on the facts — whose money it was, how it can be traced, and what the investigating officer is willing to accept. Applications for partial release have succeeded in some matters and failed in others, so it is not something to assume.
Can I claim compensation for a wrong freeze?
A wrong attachment does not, by itself, hand you a compensation claim against the police. Remedies do exist, but they are slow, expensive and rarely proportionate for a routine freeze that is later lifted. The realistic goal in most of these matters is getting the money released, not punishing the officer who held it.
What if the attached amount is far more than the sum complained of?
That is worth raising, and it is one of the more effective arguments. Attaching a balance many times the disputed figure while refusing to release the excess can be challenged before the court having jurisdiction over the police station, and in some districts the officer has released the surplus once the point was put in writing. Ask specifically for release of the amount above the sum under investigation.
Getting started
If the freeze is recent, the useful thing is to write to the investigating officer before the account has been attached for months. Send the freeze communication or the statement page showing the lien, the FIR number with the police station and district, a two-line note on why the money entered your account, and any police notice with its date. That is enough to tell you whether there is something to argue.
You can send those documents through /contact-us, or book a time at /book if the sums are large or a notice of appearance has already been served. The first conversation is about what the papers actually say, not about promising an outcome.
This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Facts differ, and so do the courts.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India
Facing a similar matter? Speak to a criminal advocate in Delhi — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.