The Gujarat Police have unfrozen around 27,000 bank accounts that were frozen due to cyber crimes. After several allegations of wrongful freezing of bank accounts by the police, State Police Chief DGP Vikas Sahay instructed IPS officers in the Cyber Crime Cell to look into the issue. Following this, it was decided not to freeze the bank accounts into which fraud money was deposited for the first time. However, it is also necessary for the police to obtain proof that the bank account holder is not involved with the cyber criminals.
The police’s actions to freeze bank accounts in response to the growing cyber crime had become a topic of discussion, with allegations that police were improperly freezing accounts to extort money. A few weeks ago, some police officers were also arrested in Bhavnagar for allegedly demanding lakhs of rupees to unfreeze accounts. In response, State Police Chief Vikas Sahay held a meeting with the IPS officers serving in the Cyber Crime Cell to seek immediate suggestions.
The discussions revealed that the cyber fraud gang was depositing money into the accounts of traders as payment and also into other people’s accounts. The Gujarat Police investigates the bank accounts of cyber criminals in relation to fraud cases. After freezing an account, the police also freeze bank accounts where the criminals have transferred money. During this action, some innocent people who had received money in their accounts from cyber fraud also suffered.
However, following the instructions of DGP Sahay, the Cyber Cell and the police have unfrozen about 27,000 bank accounts across the state. DGP Vikas Sahay stated, “We decided to investigate the increasing number of complaints from people regarding the police wrongly freezing bank accounts. However, the police were acting as part of their investigation, which sometimes resulted in innocent individuals becoming victims.”