City Crime Branch empowered to probe, file charge sheet, says K'taka High Court

Bengaluru: Once the government has empowered the City Crime Branch (CCB) police officers as superior officers of the police stations concerned in Bengaluru, CCB police automatically gets power under CrPC Section 36 to investigate and file a charge sheet, the Karnataka High Court has said.

The court said that the police get this power as they become an officer in charge of the police station as per definition of CrPC Section 2(o).

Justice K Natarajan said this while dismissing the petitions filed by city-based businessman Ditul Mehta and his family members in a complaint lodged by his estranged wife, Esha Raj.

The case pertains to dowry harassment.

The complaint was filed with the Basavanagudi police and subsequently transferred to the CCB on the instructions of the Bengaluru city police commissioner.

The petitioners had challenged the February 25, 2021, notification issued by the state government empowering the CCB to take up investigation, by conferring the powers available with SHOs of all police stations. It was contended that the police commissioner has no power under the Karnataka Police Act to transfer investigation to the CCB.

Since the CCB is not a police station, the magistrate could not have taken cognizance of the charge sheet filed by the said agency, the petitioners claimed.

However, Additional Advocate General Vikram Huilgol submitted that the CCB is working since long to investigate the matter and the police officers are assigned the power of investigation and to file the charge sheet, which amounts to filing of the final report under CrPC Section 173(2).

Justice Natarajan observed that the CCB is working since September 3, 1971, and the notification issued by the state government on February 25, 2021, conferring the power of a police station, cannot be said to be an overnight exercise.

The court also noted that the police commissioner had acted in accordance with the power conferred by the state government under Section 7 of the Karnataka Police Act and has referred the investigation to the CCB.

“Once the CCB filed the final report, it becomes a police report under Section 173(2) of the CrPC and therefore, the magistrate is empowered to take cognizance under Section 190 of CrPC on the police report.

"Therefore, I am of the view that the investigation conducted by the CCB police is in accordance with the provisions of Section 36 of the CrPC and the charge sheet filed by them is sustainable,” Justice Natarajan said.