Rajasthan High Court lets SBI customer use account beyond the frozen disputed sum
The Rajasthan High Court directed State Bank of India to keep only the disputed amount frozen in a customer's account and let the customer transact with the remaining balance.
Key points
- The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur directed State Bank of India to freeze only the disputed sum in a customer's account.
- If the bank does not know the exact disputed figure, police must tell it the amount to be kept under lien within seven days of its letter.
- The order, dated 13 October 2026, means the rest of the balance can be used while the police inquiry continues.
The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur on 13 October 2026 directed State Bank of India to keep only the disputed amount frozen in a customer's savings account and to let the customer transact with the rest of the balance. The account, held at SBI's Babra branch in Beawar district, had been blocked after notices linked to cyber-crime complaints from police units in several states.
What Happened
The account holder filed a writ petition asking the court to quash the bank's notices and allow the account to be operated. The respondents included SBI and police cyber cells in Delhi, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
The court disposed of the petition with a direction to SBI to keep frozen the disputed amount, which the police allege was received into the account as proceeds of an offence, and to allow transactions from the remaining balance.
The court also set out a procedure. If the bank has not been told the exact disputed figure, it must write to the investigating officer, with a copy of the order, asking which amount should be earmarked for lien (a hold that blocks only that sum). The police must reply within seven days of receiving the bank's letter, and the bank must then act on it. If the police do not reply, the bank is still bound to act in line with the order.
The order does not decide whether any offence was committed. These are allegations, not findings of guilt; the accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, and due process continues.
What It Means
For account holders whose accounts are frozen over a cyber-crime complaint, the order shows the court limiting the freeze to the amount in dispute rather than the whole account. The police are given a fixed seven-day window to name that amount once the bank asks, so a customer is not left waiting indefinitely for an answer.
The disputed sum itself stays frozen while the investigation continues. Anyone who has lost money to an online fraud can report it at https://cybercrime.gov.in or on helpline 1930.
Source: High Court judgment
Sources & Citations
- High Court judgment — Rajasthan High Court