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(i) Prestige Agastha Golf Village, Saibappa Temple, Agastha Road near Anjaneyapura, Kothanur, Bengaluru;

(ii) Jekyll Food Products Pvt. Ltd., Ramkrishna Palace near Veterinary Hospital, Marungur-Panduruthi Taluk; (iii) Jekyll Constructions; and (iv) BLFR, Sadashiva Temple, Main Road. The warrant specifically empowered the executing officers to search the above premises and to seize and take possession only of such instruments, documents, materials or properties that the officers may reasonably believe to be kept for the manufacture of forged documents, counterfeit stamps, false seals, counterfeit coins, or counterfeit currency notes, and thereafter to produce the same forthwith before the issuing court at Chennai.

"Whether the act of sealing the petitioner's residential premises and seizure of his vehicle by the respondent police was within the scope of the search warrant dated 13.06.2025, and if not, whether such action warrants interference by this Court?"

10. Upon perusal of the search and seizure warrant, it is evident that the authorisation was restricted to seizure of instruments and materials used for the manufacture of NC: 2025:KHC:46855 HC-KAR forged or counterfeit documents, stamps, or seals. The relevant extract reads:

"...and to seize and take possession of any property and also of any instruments and material which you may reasonably believe to be kept for the manufacture of forged documents, or counterfeit stamps, or false seal or counterfeit coins or counterfeit currency notes...

(Emphasis supplied)"

11. Under the guise of executing the said search and seizure warrant, Respondents 2 and 3 have taken coercive steps wholly outside and beyond the express limits of authority conferred under the order of the learned Magistrate. Instead of confining themselves to the recovery of specific incriminating materials contemplated under the warrant, Respondents 2 and 3 have proceeded to seal the petitioner's residential premises, which is not one of the suspected locations mentioned in the warrant,

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NC: 2025:KHC:46855 HC-KAR premises is not only beyond the scope of the warrant but also without the backing of any statutory provision enabling the police to dispossess a citizen of his residential dwelling in the absence of a specific direction by a competent court.

13. A closer examination of the search and seizure order issued by the Chennai Magistrate reveals that the complainant's apprehension pertained solely to the possibility of the petitioner and other accused manufacturing forged documents, counterfeit seals, or similar instruments allegedly used to cause unlawful loss to the complainant's business. Acting on such apprehension, the learned Magistrate issued a specific and limited warrant directing the police to search the identified premises and to retrieve only such materials which could reasonably be believed to be instruments of forgery or counterfeiting. The order was never intended to be a general warrant authorising the police to seize all