Alibaba.com files a complaint with the Bombay High Court over account freezing in a cheating case

Alibaba has filed a complaint with the Bombay High Court against Maharashtra Police suspending its bank accounts “under the pretext of investigating” an alleged cheating case.

An FIR was filed by a guy who claimed that one of Alibaba.com’s corporate organisations, Alibaba Cloud India LLP, was providing a download link for a mobile application that was allegedly used to defraud individuals.

The complainant alleged that he paid Rs 65,000 to the app after being enticed by the service’s promising rewards.

An FIR was filed in response to the complaint, and three months later. The Mumbai police issued a Section 91 notice to HSBC, ordering the freeze of its accounts. The firm has filed a high court appeal to the police’s move.

As per the appeal, the police do not have the authority to freeze the bank accounts. Alibaba also anticipated the issuance of a letter freezing another of its Citibank India accounts.

Alibaba has asked for the operation of the blocked account to be restored in the petition.

Meanwhile, the company maintained that they received no summons or notification asking them to cooperate or stay present as part of any investigation or inquiry. Furthermore, no justification or rationale for the bank account freezing was provided.

Alibaba stated that it was neither the accused nor participated in the charges under investigation in the FIR, hence the move was illegal on the surface.