Special CBI Court Grants Relief To Law Firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas By Defreezing Its Account Held In Kotak Bank

A Special CBI Court has granted relief to law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and ordered de-freezing of its account held in the Kotak Mahindra Bank, except for an amount of Rs 2.12 crore which was received from PNB scam accused Nirav Modi and his firms as legal fee.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had frozen the law firm’s current account after an FIR registered by the CBI against Nirav Modi and others.

Shortly thereafter, the law firm moved an application under Section 451 and Section 457 of the Crriminal Procedure Code to de-freeze its current account.

The firm contended that it had legally advised a civil banking settlement related to Nirav Modi and his firms, which was terminated on February 21, 2018, for which it had received a legal fee which was deposited in its Kotak Mahindra Bank account.

The law firm had also offered to deposit the entire amount of the legal fee with the CBI.

However, the CBI contended that the law firm had received this amount as “proceeds of crime” and submitted that the amount should be frozen.

After hearing the parties, the court ordered de-freezing of the law firm’s bank account, granting it

liberty to file a fresh application to deposit the frozen amount of Rs 2.12 crore in a fixed deposit with a nationalized bank.