India, July 9 -- Observing that the freezing of bank accounts of without a direct link to a crime is "draconian", a Delhi court has directed the CBI to defreeze three accounts of an individual whose son-in-law is an accused in a Rs 3-crore bribery case.

Slamming the agency for its "completely arbitrary" action of freezing the accounts, the court said the probe of the alleged offences "cannot be made a tool for harassing ordinary citizenry only because their relatives are suspected of having committed certain offences".

Special Judge Sushant Changotra was hearing the plea of one Gulshan Kumar, moved by his advocate Prateek Som, challenging the freezing of his three bank accounts as illegal.

In an order passed on Tuesday, the court said,...