New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police has no power to attach or seize a suspect’s immovable property during the course of investigation.
The order was issued by a two-judge bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, as it weighed in on the powers of police under Section 102 of the Criminal Penal Code (CrPc), which deals with seizures of assets associated with crime.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Maharashtra government against a similar order issued by a full bench of the Bombay High Court in 2010. The petition had been filed by a developer from Pune, Sudhir Karnataki, who sought the release of his property seized by the police while investigating a complaint filed by a professor.
The Bombay High Court had held that police had no power to seize immovable property of an accused while an investigation was under way.
In its petition before the apex court, Maharashtra cited the Tapas Neogy case as precedent, where the Supreme Court had ruled that police had all powers to freeze the bank accounts of an accused during the course of investigation. Hence, the state argued, it had the power to seize immovable property too.
Section 102 of CrPC
Police officers are empowered under Section 102 of the CrPc to seize any property that is suspected to be stolen, or which is found under circumstances that create suspicion about the commission of any offence.
When a subordinate police officer makes such a seizure, they are supposed to inform a senior officer. The magistrate is to be informed too.
In 2018, the Chhattisgarh High Court had also held that police cannot seize the property of an accused during investigation.
The order came as a petitioner moved court after police invoked Section 102 of the CrPC to seize three trucks of iron angles and other objects weighing about 40 tonnes and gave them to his employees. After distributing the goods, police had sealed the shops and immovable property owned by the petitioner.
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This is an updated version of the report