Only the disputed cyber-fraud amount may be secured; the bank account must otherwise be unfrozen.

The petitioner sought a direction to unfreeze his Punjab National Bank account, while permitting the disputed amount of ₹84,000 to remain secured in a fixed deposit.

He relied on Malcolm Murayis & Ors. v. State Bank of India & Others, W.P. No. 1100 of 2024, and on the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s subsequent decision in Archana v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Others, which considered the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) dated 10 April 2026 for grievances concerning accounts placed on hold through the NCRP-CFCFRMS.

Whether the petitioner’s bank account should be unfrozen while the disputed amount of ₹84,000 is retained in a fixed deposit.

Whether the disputed amount should remain secured pending action by the competent Judicial Magistrate under the applicable law.

In Malcolm Murayis, the Court directed that the disputed amount be kept in a fixed deposit, to be liquidated only upon an order of the competent Judicial Magistrate within three months; failing such an order, the amount could be released to the account holders under intimation to the cyber-crime agencies.

In Archana, the Court considered the Ministry of Home Affairs’ SOP dated 10 April 2026 and emphasized that account freezes should be proportionate, should ordinarily be limited to the suspected amount where that is sufficient, and should be subject to the prescribed grievance-redressal process and timelines.

The Court applied these decisions mutatis mutandis to the present case.

The Court considered the relief sought and concluded that the principles in Malcolm Murayis and Archana applied to the petitioner’s case.

It therefore balanced preservation of the disputed ₹84,000 against the petitioner’s ability to use the remainder of the account: the disputed sum was to remain in a fixed deposit pending orders of the competent Magistrate, while the account itself was to be unfrozen.

Any further complaint concerning another transaction could be dealt with by the bank in accordance with law and the SOP.

The fixed deposit may be liquidated only after orders of the competent Judicial Magistrate within three months; if no such orders are passed within that period, the petitioner may withdraw the amount under intimation to the police agency.