TMI Blog2001 (8) TMI 1424X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e public servant use his lawful power to the detriment of the public. However, the final report laid by the CBI was not acceptable to the Special Judge and he directed further investigation into the matter but the High Court reversed the said direction by the impugned order. 3. Appellant styles himself as a disciple of one Swami Rama, a non-resident Indian, who founded a Trust by name Himalayan institute of Medical Sciences at Dehra Dun with high profile public personage shown as its patrons. The Trust had a lot of Income Tax, Meerut ,was troubling the then Commission of Income Tax, Meerut, was troubling the Trust and its founder with notices frequently issued. It was in the said context that they approached B.P. Gupta, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Kanpur (the third respondent) for redressed of their grievances. 4. Appellant claims to have forwarded a complaint to the DIG of CBI, Delhi on 6.3.1996, complaining that at the behest of Respondent No.3 the Trust people including the appellant contacted Janardhan Gupta (the son of the third respondent) who demanded ₹ 20 lacs to be paid to his father as bribe and after a lot of haggling, the amount was reduced to ₹ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cessary to point out that preliminary investigation was conducted by Sh. V.K. Gupta, DIG (CBI). In my view, in this situation it would be proper that this case is again investigated by DIG level, officer, The final report, not being legitimate is liable to be rejected. The final report is therefore rejected and the Director, CBI, New Delhi is ordered to depute an officer of the rank of DIG in this matter who would investigate this case afresh and submit his report. 8. The CBI moved the High Court of Allahabad in revision, against the said order of the Special Judge. The contention of the CBI before the High Court of Allahabad was that the alleged micro-cassettes of the tape recorded conversation purported to have made between the appellant and the fourth respondent were neither attested by any independent witness nor recorded by any officials of the CBI nor authenticated by it and that it was a self-managed cassette of the appellant. The learned Single Judge of the High Court who passed the impugned order expressed like this: On a consideration of the entire materials submitted along with the report and made available before the learned Special Judge, there was no case fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Altaf Ahmad, learned Additional Solicitor General, submitted that the conclusion of the CBI was based on the materials collected by them and that was filtered at different levels of the organisation of the CBI. The final report was laid only when the CBI was convinced of the conclusions reached therein. 13. The real question is not whether the conclusion reached by the CBI had been subjected to verification or supervision at different departmental level. Nor even whether the conclusion is correct. When the final report is laid after conclusion of the investigation the Court has the power to consider the same and issue notice to the complaint to be heard in case the conclusions in the final report are not in concurrence with the allegations made by them. Though the investigation was conducted by the CBI the provisions under Chapter XII of the Code would apply of such investigation. The police referred to in the Chapter, for the purpose of investigation, would apply to the officer/officers of the Delhi Police Establishment Act. ON completion of the investigation the report has to be filed by the CBI in the manner provided in Section 173(2) of the Code, with the exception that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inal report. Then it is open to the Court to independently apply its mind to the facts emerging there from and can even take cognizance of the offences which appear to him to have been committed, in exercise of his power under Section 190(1)(b) of the Code. The third option is the one adumbrated in Section 173(8) of the Code. That sub-section reads thus: Nothing in this section shall be deemed to preclude further investigation in respect of an offence after a report under sub-section (2) has been forwarded to the Magistrate and, where upon such investigation, the officer in charge of the police station obtains further evidence, oral or documentary, he shall forward to the magistrate a further report or reports regarding such evidence in the form prescribed, and the provisions of sub-sections (2) to (6) shall, as far as may be, apply in relation to such report or reports as they apply in relation to a report forwarded under sub-section (2). 16. Although the said sub-section does not, in specific terms, mention about the powers of the Court to order further investigations the power of the police to conduct further investigation envisaged there in can be triggered into motion a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... police during the investigation and take cognizance of the offence complained of and order the issue of process to the accused. Section 190(1)(b) does not lay down that a Magistrate can take cognizance of an offence only if the investigating officer gives an opinion that the investigation has made out a case against the accused. The Magistrate can ignore the conclusion arrived at by the investigating officer and independently apply his mind to the facts emerging from the investigations and take cognizance of the case, if he thinks fit, in exercise of his powers under Section 100(1)(b) and direct the issue of process to the accused. 19. In Union Public Service Commissioner vs. S Papaiah and ors. 1997CriLJ4636 : 1997CriLJ4636 a two Judge Bench considered the scope of Section 173(8) of the Code in extenso. Dr. A.S. Anand, J ( as the learned Chief Justice then was) after extracting Section 173(8) of the Code has observed thus: The Magistrate could, thus in exercise of the powers under Section 173(8) Cr. P. C. direct the CBI to 'further investigate' the case and collect further evidence keeping in view the objection raised by the appellant to the investigation and the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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