Monster Com India Private Limited vs State Of Maharashtra

CNR No : HCBM010486282026

WP-5223-2026-(CR).doc
Rohit Ghuge
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
Digitally
signed by
ROHIT
RAMDAS
GHUGE
Date:
2026.11.02
16:51:12
+0530
ROHIT
RAMDAS
GHUGE
CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 5223 OF 2026
1. Monster.com (India) Private Limited,
a company incorporated under the
Companies Act, 1956,
having its registered office at
th
Block 3, 5 Floor, DLF
CyberCity, Smartworks, Plot
No. 129-132, APHB Colony,
Gachibowli, Hyderabad,
Telangana – 500032.
2. Prapul Sridhar,
Adult, Indian Inhabitant,
Director of Monster.com
(India) Private Limited and
th
having his office at Block 3, 5
Floor, DLF CyberCity,
Smartworks, Plot No. 129-
132, APHB Colony,
Gachibowli, Hyderabad,
Telangana – 500 032. …Petitioners
Versus
1. State of Maharashtra,
Through Kolsewadi Police Station,
Kalyan East,
Thane City.
2. Senior Police Inspector,
Kolsewadi Police Station,
Kalyan East, Thane City.
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3. ICICI Bank Limited,
a banking company
incorporated under the
Companies Act, 1956 and the
Banking Regulation Act, 1949,
having its registered office at
ICICI Bank Tower, Near
Chakli Circle, Old Padra Road,
Vadodara, Gujarat, India,
390007 and branch office at
Plot No 1267, Gateway
Jubilee, Jubilee Hills,
Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 033.
4. Anupkumar Kesharwani
Adult, Indian Inhabitant,
residing at Omsakuntala Co-op
Housing Society, Room No.
05, A Wing, Durgamata
Mandir Road, Kolsewadi,
Kalyan (East), Kolsewadi,
Thane City, Maharashtra India. …Respondents

*
Mr. Gopal Machiraju a/w Krusha Maheshwari and Mr. Abhishek
Kamble i/b Mr. Sriram Sridharan for the Petitioners.
Ms. Sangeeta D. Shinde, A.P.P. for Respondent No.1-State.
Mr. Mahesh Kale, Police Inspector, Kolsewadi Police Station,
Thane.
*

CORAM : BHARATI DANGRE &
ASHISH S. CHAVAN, JJ.
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DATE : 28 OCTOBER 2026
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JUDGMENT [Per Ashish S. Chavan J.] :
1. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith with the
consent of the parties and is taken up for final disposal. Learned
APP Ms. Shinde for the Respondent-State waive notice.
2. The Petitioner No. 1, a company incorporated under
the Provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, has approached this
Court invoking its inherent jurisdiction under Section 528 of BNSS,
2023, inter alia seeking to quash and set aside the order dated
th
04.09.2026 passed by Ld. JMFC, 4 Court, Kalyan and de-freezing
of the account of the Petitioner No. 1 initiated by Respondent
No.3-ICICI Bank at the instance of Kolsewadi Police Station,
Kalyan.
3. Heard Mr. Machiraju for the Petitioner, and Ms. Shinde, APP
for Respondent No.1-State.
4. The case of the Petitioner No. 1 which is engaged in the
business of online recruitment and talent solutions operating under
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its well-known brand “foundit” formerly known as Monster India,
is that on March 18, 2026, the Petitioner No. 1 entered into a
service agreement with one Tejansh Tripathi for providing access to
its resume database for a total consideration of Rs.94,400/- payable
in two installments of Rs. 47,200/- each.
In the month of March 2026 and May 2026 said Tejansh
Tripathi deposited Rs.47,200/- with Petitioner No. 1 in its Bank
Account bearing No. 007605001669 with the ICICI Bank,
Hyderabad Branch (“the ICICI Account”) towards service charges.
5. On 11.08.2026, ICICI Bank informed Petitioner No. 1 by
e-mail that its account was frozen pursuant to directions received by
the bank from Kolsewadi Police Station, Kalyan. Since, Petitioner
No. 1 maintained the ICICI account as its primary operational
account for payment of salaries, vendor payments and other day to
day business operation, the freezing of the ICICI account severely
impacted the Petitioner No. 1’s ability to meet their on-going
financial and business obligations. Hence, upon making inquiry
Petitioner No. 1 learnt that the Kolsewadi Police Station has
registered and FIR dated 23.07.2026 for offences punishable under
Section 66(d) the Information Technology Act, 2000, along with
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offences punishable under Sections 319(2), 318(4) and 3(5) of
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (for short “ the BNS, 2023”).
The FIR was the result of the complaint filed by one
Anupkumar Kesharwani (“complainant”) against Vivek Dixit and
Rajiv Agarwal (“accused”) wherein, the complainant has alleged that
he was induced by the accused to part with an amount of
Rs.9,34,356/- on the promise that the accused will find a job.
However, since the accused persons did not make good their
representations, the complainant filed report against them in the
Kolsewadi Police Station which was registered as the aforesaid FIR.
6. The Petitioner No. 1, aggrieved by the action of freezing of its
account which had no connection with the allegations in the FIR,
wrote to the ICICI bank which in turned informed the Petitioner
No. 1 that the debit-freeze had been initiated at the instance of
Kolsewadi Police Station.
Therefore, the Petitioner No. 1 filed an Application for
th
de-freezing of the ICICI account in the court of the JMFC, 4
Court, Kalyan. Vide an order dated 04.09.2026 the Ld. JMFC
rejected the Application of the Petitioner No. 1, necessitating the
present Petition.
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7. On behalf of the Petitioners it was submitted that, the amount
of Rs. 47,200/- received by it from Tejansh Tripathi is legitimate
consideration for providing services to Petitioner No. 1 for which it
had entered into a service agreement with him. Thus, the said
amount cannot be proceeds of crime. It was also argued that the
Petitioner No. 1 has no connection with the allegations in the FIR
and that because of the debit freeze on the affairs of the Petitioner
No. 1 has come to a standstill and has jeopardized the payments of
salaries who employees of Petitioner No. 1 and its vendors thereby
affecting its business operations and reputation.
8. The Ld. APP on behalf of the Respondent-State argued that
the complainant had made payments to one Ravinder who in turn
have made payments to the Petitioner No. 1, establishing the money
trail from the complainant to the Petitioner No. 1. The investigation
is ongoing and the money trail is yet to be established fully. Hence,
at this stage she opposed grant of any relief to the Petitioners.
9. With the able assistance of the Ld. APP we have perused the
FIR, the impugned order and copies of statement of account of one
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Ravinder, a resident of Haryana having an account in the Indian
Bank. Despite a specific query as to the link between the bank
account of the Petitioner No. 1 and proceeds of crime arsing out of
the aforesaid FIR, the Ld. APP would only submit that the
complainant had made payments to one Ravinder in his bank
account and the said Ravinder has layered the money into various
accounts. She has not placed on record any material to suggest that
the Petitioner No. 1 has received any proceeds of crime arising out
of the aforesaid FIR.
The Ld. APP has not rebutted the contention of the
Petitioners that the payments received by them in the ICICI account
from one Tejansh Tripathi are proceeds of crime.
10. Examining the impugned order, in the wake of the aforesaid
discussion, we note that the Ld. JMFC has premised the rejection
of the petitioners application for de-freezing on the finding that
there is credit to the account of the Petitioner No. 1 from the
account of the complainant. However, this observation is not
tenable in view of the submissions of the Ld. APP who was unable
to point out any link between the defrauded amounts arising out of
the aforesaid FIR and the Petitioner No. 1.
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Hence, in the circumstances we set aside the impugned order
dated 04.09.2026 and direct the Kolsewadi Police Station to initiate
the process to de-freeze the Bank Account No. 007605001669
maintained by the Petitioner with ICICI Bank, Jubilee Hills Branch,
Hyderabad, Telangana.
The Petition is made absolute in the aforesaid terms.
ASHISH S. CHAVAN, J. BHARATI DANGRE, J.
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