A petitioner on Monday moved the high court challenging the freezing of three Trinamool Congress bank accounts holding at least ₹440 crore.

Danish Farooqui, a lawyer, submitted through advocate Sirsanya Bandopadhyay that he wanted to know how the accounts had been frozen, who had ordered the action and under what authority.

Bandopadhyay told the bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya that his client wished to file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the matter. The court granted permission to file the PIL.

The PIL was filed on Monday itself. The date of the hearing is not clear yet.

The initiative to block access to the party’s funds was taken recently by former Trinamool MLA and minister Aroop Biswas, who wrote to the bank as the party treasurer. He expressed his apprehensions about the possible misuse and mishandling of the funds amid an ongoing conflict over control of the party’s reins, requesting the bank to freeze the accounts.

The same day, 10 MLAs who are from the rebel camp that has come out from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool under the leadership of MLA Ritabrata Banerjee lodged a complaint with the cyber police station of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate, alleging that the money in the three Trinamool bank accounts was “ill-got” and hence should be frozen.

“It has come to my knowledge through reliable circumstances and surrounding developments that certain funds, allegedly arising out of illegal activities including misuse of influence, dishonest financial dealings, and suspected unlawful collection of money, may have been routed and subsequently deposited into the bank accounts... the circumstances clearly indicate that the matter requires immediate and thorough investigation to ascertain the origin, movement, and destination of the said funds,” the complainant reported to the police.

The police registered an FIR and initiated a case. The following day, the three bank accounts were frozen.