AP high court stays ACB court order on defreezing bank accounts of accused

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh high court on Tuesday stayed an order given by the special court for ACB cases to defreeze the bank accounts of accused and to release seized gold jewellery by taking nominal surety.After hearing multiple petitions filed by govt employees facing disproportionate assets cases registered by the ACB, the trial court directed the investigating agency to defreeze the accounts for regular usage. Challenging the directions, ACB Vijayawada range DSP moved the high court.The standing counsel for ACB, Shyamsundar Rao, argued that defreezing the accounts and releasing the jewellery while the cases are still under investigation is bad in law. He said if accused officials are convicted in the matters, the seized property will belong to the state govt.He further argued that if the petitioners wanted to release the jewellery, they must deposit an amount equivalent to the value of the said jewellery or submit a bank guarantee for the same. He sought directions to stay the orders of the trial court. Considering the arguments, Justice Venkata Jyothirmayee Pratapa passed interim orders granting a stay on the trial court orders and directed the respondents to file counter affidavits.