BENGALURU: Classifying criminal offences as petty, serious and heinous offences, the Karnataka High Court has issued guidelines for speedy investigation, fixing 60 days for petty offences and 90 days for serious and heinous offences, which could be extended by Special Judge/ Magistrate upon request made by the investigating officers with valid reasons. Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav issued 17 guidelines taking note of the inordinate delay in investigation into the disproportionate assets case against MLA Abhay Kumar B Patil of Belagavi and alleged life threat to the complainant by the MLA and his henchmen to withdraw the complaint and attempts to implicate him in a false case.
There was no status report filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Belagavi, since 2017, giving reasons for the inordinate delay. On the contrary, every possible attempt is being made to cause further delay and provide an opportunity to the accused to destroy the incriminating evidence available against him, the complainant, who had written to Chief Justices of High Court and Supreme Court, alleged. “In cases involving influential public personalities, Section 164 of the CrPC should be resorted to more frequently.
While investigation of offences is the exclusive domain of the police, the judicial magistrate should have a role to play to counter the moves of persons in influential positions in subverting the effective process of investigation. Accordingly, the investigation officer should bring to the notice of the magistrate the bottlenecks, if any, that are coming in the way of speedy investigation including the attempts being made by the accused to hinder the investigation. The magistrate should send a report to the district judge for appropriate action on the administrative side to eliminate delays”, the court said.
The 17 guidelines include setting up of a separate investigation wing with dedicated personnel in police stations with necessary training imparted so as to inculcate professionalism in investigation, strategies to unearth and detect crimes, steps to be taken to familiarise personnel with necessary knowledge relating to technology involved in cyber crimes, money laundering and corruption offences.
In the event of failure to complete investigation in an expeditious manner, the court suggested to invoke the provisions under the Karnataka Police Act to file complaint with the State and District Police Complaint Authority to ensure accountability of the investigating officers. It placed on record its appreciation for the assistance of Amicus Curiae, Senior Advocate Sandesh Chouta.