Attachment of Bank Account – Mystery of Law and Justice

Scope of power of Investigating Officer u/s 102 of Cr.P.C.

A plain reading of sub-section (1) of Section 102 indicates that the Police Officer has the power to seize any property which may be found under circumstances creating suspicion of the commission of any offence. The legislature having used the expression “any property” and “any offence‟ have made the applicability of the provisions wide enough to cover offences created under any Act. But the two preconditions for applicability of Section 102(1) are that it must be “property‟ and secondly, in respect of the said property there must have been suspicion of commission of any offence. In this view of the matter the two further questions that arise for consideration are whether the bank account of an accused or of his relation can be said to be “property‟ within the meaning of sub-section (1) of Section 102 of the Cr.P.C. and secondly, whether circumstances exist, creating suspicion of commission of any offence in relation to the same………..”

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Attachment of bank account:

Duty to form belief about undisclosed income:

No order under Section 132(3) of the Income Tax Act can be passed when the authorized officer is in doubt whether the asset is disclosed or undisclosed income.

When the authorized officer under the Income Tax Act is not satisfied or he has doubts to believe that the particular asset found on search is undisclosed property, he cannot have recourse to the provisions contained in sub-section (3) of Section 132 of the Income Tax Act.

[Sources: Om Prakash Jindal v. Union of India, 1976 (104) ITR 389 (P&H) Sriram Jaiswal vs. Union of India, 1989 (176) ITR 261 (All.).]

A prohibitory order issued under sub- section (3) of Section 132 of the Income Tax Act in respect of Current Account in question without forming any belief and/or without any material to conclude that the amount deposited in the said Current Account is either wholly or partly undisclosed income of the petitioner is unsustainable in law.