HC refuses to grant police custody of tainted IPS officer Manilal Patidar in corruption case

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has declined to grant police the custody of tainted IPS officer Manilal Patidar for interrogation in a corruption case, citing technical grounds The bench said though the special Prevention of Corruption Act court in Lucknow erred in not allowing police custody for interrogation earlier, it cannot be granted at this stage because the section 1672 of CrPC puts embargo on granting police custody after fifteen days judicial custody period, which expired on November 13, 2022.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has declined to grant police the custody of tainted IPS officer Manilal Patidar for interrogation in a corruption case, citing technical grounds The bench said though the special Prevention of Corruption Act court in Lucknow erred in not allowing police custody for interrogation earlier, it cannot be granted at this stage ''because the section 167(2) of CrPC puts embargo on granting police custody after fifteen days judicial custody period, which expired on November 13, 2022''. The bench of justice BR Singh passed the order on Nov 14 on the revision petition filed by the state government, which had challenged the November 9 order whereby the special court had rejected the police plea for Patidar's custody.

In its order, the HC, however, permitted the state government to take any other legal recourse available to it under law to meet the ends of justice.

Patidar surrendered in the court on October 15, 2022 in connection with the death of a Mahoba businessman. This death case is related to the Kabrai police station in Mahoba when he was the superintendent of police (SP) there.

Patidar also faced a case of bribe, the instant matter. and his judicial custody was taken in this case on October 29. The police on November 4 moved an application for police remand of Patidar. The special court of PC Act fixed November 9 as the date of hearing on the plea. On the day, the special court rejected the police plea, saying the police had not stated as to for how many days' remand it wanted.

The state government then moved the HC on November 14 challenging the special court's order, by then the 15-day period from the date of his judicial custody had already expired. Expressing helplessness in granting police custody, the HC said section 167(2) of CrPC prohibits it to grant police custody remand after 15-day judicial custody, which expired on November 13, 2022 itself .

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)