Supreme Court Says Crime Investigation Is Police's Exclusive Domain, Quashes Bombay HC Order on PFI Case

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NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Monday said investigation of a crime was the police's exclusive domain and should be left to the investigating agency's discretion, and courts should not interfere to decide when a probe should stop. Quashing a Bombay High Court order which had refused to grant an extension of time to file a chargesheet against a Popular Front of India (PFI) member, after which the accused were granted default bail, a bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar said the HC committed an error in not granting more time to the anti-terrorism squad of Mumbai police to complete the probe. "Investigation of a crime is the exclusive domain of the police. It is not the jurisdiction of the court to decide when the investigation in a case should stop. It must be left to the discretion of the investigating agency to decide the course of investigation and to proceed in its own manner. The court cannot curtail the statutory powers vested in the police except in an exceptional case on facts or where there is a statutory bar to carry out investigation by the police," the bench said.

It added that courts cannot interfere with the statutory right of the police to investigate the circumstances of a cognisable crime and it was the bounden duty of the executive, through the police department, to investigate the offence and bring the offender to book. "The probe agency sought time to analyse how data retrieved from mobiles, computers and other gadgets seized from the accused connect them with the terrorist activities intended to undermine the sovereignty of India. The agency is also required to indicate how the flow of money in the bank accounts of the accused connects them with the terrorist activities." SC quashed the default bail granted to the accused and asked them to surrender within 30 days.

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