A bank guarantee cannot be imposed as a condition for releasing seized vehicles under Section 457 CrPC.

The petitioners’ six tipper lorries were seized by the respondent in a case registered in 2021.

On their application under Section 457 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Magistrate ordered release subject to conditions, including an indemnity bond and surety, a bank guarantee of ₹10 lakh for each vehicle, and a prohibition on transferring or altering the vehicles pending disposal of the case.

The petitioners challenged the bank-guarantee condition and sought release without it; the Court also recorded their grievance regarding the transfer restriction.

The case remained pending, and the vehicles remained in custody for five years.

1. Whether the condition requiring a bank guarantee of ₹10 lakh for each seized vehicle should be set aside as a condition of interim release.

2. Whether the restriction on alienating or transferring the vehicles pending disposal of the case should be set aside.

Section 457 CrPC empowers the Magistrate to make orders concerning the custody or disposal of property seized by the police and reported to the court.

The High Court exercised its jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution, read with Section 482 CrPC, as invoked in the petition.

The Court relied on the coordinate Bench’s decision in W.P. No. 200882 of 2019, which had set aside a bank-guarantee condition imposed for release of a seized vehicle.

The Court did not set out a separate general test for imposing release conditions.

The Court noted that the criminal case had been pending since 2021 and that continued custody of the vehicles benefited neither the petitioners nor the prosecution.

In light of the coordinate Bench’s decision concerning a bank-guarantee condition for release of a seized vehicle, it held that the impugned conditions should be quashed.

The Court did not provide separate reasoning on the transfer restriction beyond including it in the conditions set aside.

The Court quashed conditions 2 and 3—requiring a bank guarantee and prohibiting alienation or transfer—and directed that the vehicles be released to the petitioners forthwith upon compliance with condition 1, requiring an indemnity bond and surety.