Raipur, June 2 -- In an important judgment on protecting the value of frozen investments, the Chhattisgarh High Court has said that freezing an asset is not enough, its financial value must also be protected while legal proceedings remain pending.

The ruling came in a petition filed by eight companies whose DEMAT accounts containing shares and securities worth more than Rs.423 crore were frozen by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during its investigation into the alleged Mahadev Online Book money laundering case.

Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal observed that where the property under restraint consists of listed shares and market-linked securities, preservation cannot be understood merely as retaining legal control over the asset. Since t...