Investigating agency cannot file police report without completing probe only to defeat right to statutory bail: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently held that an investigating agency cannot file a police report/chargesheet without completion of its investigation only to defeat an accused’s right to statutory bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) [Central Bureau of Investigation v Kapil Wadhawan & Anr]. .Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that to fulfil the provisions of Section 167, chargesheet must be filed upon completion of investigation.The Court noted that the investigating agency, in its anxiety of keeping the accused person in custody, may take a plea that the investigation is complete. However, the best judge in this regard should be the trial court.“It has repeatedly been held that merely because cognizance has been taken, the right to statutory bail cannot be extended or defeated. The basic parameter is that the charge sheet has been filed after the completion of the investigation or not. We have not to go by the label of the charge sheet but to examine whether actually investigation has been completed or not. If the investigation is not completed then merely because the report has been filed, the right of statutory bail cannot be defeated. Certainly it depends upon the facts of each case and no fixed formula can be laid down in this regard,” the order stated..The Court further said that in the report filed by the investigating agency, there should be sufficient evidence to bring home the guilt of the accused and the purpose should not only be his detention.“The purpose is that if an offence has been committed it must reach to its logical end. The detention during investigation or trial cannot be turned into a punitive detention. It is also a settled proposition that further investigation can be conducted only after the investigation is complete.”.The Bench went on to observe that the court is the guardian of the rights bestowed upon the accused persons and strict compliance of the procedure is necessary to protect the fundamental rights.“Merely, filing of the chargesheet, whether incomplete or piecemeal cannot defeat the basic purpose of Section 167 (2) Cr. P.C. The Court at this stage, also cannot be expected to minutely appreciate the evidence, so as to ascertain whether the same is “sufficient evidence or not”.”Justice Sharma added that Section 167(2) must be interpreted bearing in mind the three-fold objectives of the legislature which was to ensure a fair trial, expeditious investigation and trial and establishing a rationalised procedure that protects the interest of the indigent strata of the society..The Court made the observations while rejecting a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging a trial court’s order granting statutory bail to former DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the ₹42,000 crore bank fraud case..After considering the arguments and judgments cited, Justice Sharma said that though the offences alleged are very serious and very high in magnitude, the material collected so far by the agency falls too short.The Court concluded that the chargesheet filed by the CBI in this case an incomplete/piecemeal one and terming the same as a final report under Section 173 (2) CrPC, merely to scuppter the statutory and fundamental right of default bail, shall negate the provision under Section 167.This will be against the mandate of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Court added.“I consider that the order passed by the learned Sessions Judge is based on good reasoning and logic. There is no illegality or perversity in the order of the learned Sessions Judge. I do not find any force in the arguments of learned SPP that once the charge sheet had been filed qua the respondents, the right of the statutory bail could not have been granted to them.”The Bench, therefore, dismissed CBI’s plea..Special Public Prosecutor Anupam S Sharma along with Advocates Prakarsh Airan, Harpreet Kaisi, Abhishek Batra and Ripudaman Sharma appeared for the CBI.Senior Advocates Rebecca John and Amit Desai with Advocates Rohan Dakshini, Prakhar Parekh, Deepa, Ashish Hira and Archit Jain appeared for Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan. .[Read Order]