This is a question I hear increasingly as digital devices become central to criminal investigations in Nashik — particularly in cases involving agricultural land fraud, MIDC business disputes, and matrimonial matters where call records, messages, and transaction histories are treated as key evidence. Let me give you an honest and calibrated answer.

The Nashik Police Commissionerate and Maharashtra Police officers have the statutory power to seize property considered relevant to an investigation under Section 106 of the BNSS (formerly Section 102 CrPC). Where a seizure is being conducted lawfully, physically obstructing it can itself constitute an offence under the BNS. A flat refusal is therefore neither wise nor legally safe. What you can and should do is insist on every procedural protection the law provides. The seizure must be documented in a proper seizure memo or panchnama specifically listing your device, its details, the time and place of seizure, and the presence of independent witnesses — Maharashtra Police are required to follow this procedure, and any deviation from it is a procedural flaw you can raise later. The BNSS also requires search and seizure operations to be audio-video recorded, and if this is not being done, note that omission carefully.

The more sensitive question is your password or device access. Your constitutional right against self-incrimination under Article 20(3) applies here, and the legal debate on whether this extends to compelled device access and decryption is genuinely unsettled in Indian courts, including the Bombay HC. Do not volunteer your password reflexively, but do not make a confrontational refusal that creates an unnecessary conflict — tell the officers you wish to consult your lawyer and do so immediately. Having a criminal defence advocate from the Nashik panel of Aapka Legal Advice reachable by phone during any search at your premises is practically achievable and genuinely protective. Allow the lawful, documented seizure calmly, protect yourself on the procedural record, and do not sign anything without reading it.