defect or illegality in investigation will not have any bearing on the competence or procedure relating to cognizance or trial

• Prevention of Corruption Act Sections 13(2), 13(i)(d) and 17 Complainant has informed about demand of bribe by the petitioner of a particular date and time on which date trap was laid and petitioner was caught and, thereafter only, it was found that petitioner was involved in commission of the alleged offence and from that stage - It would be impractical to revert back to the preliminary inquiry. Therefore, in present case, there was no occasion for the police officer to conduct preliminary inquiry before proceeding further. Even if it is considered that during investigation in present case, some irregularity or illegality has been committed by the Investigating Officer - Such irregularity or illegality in the course of collection of evidence, can scarcely be considered by itself to affect the legality of the trial, by an otherwise competent Court, of the offence so investigated as the function of investigation is merely to collect evidence and when once, as found in foregoing discussions, investigation in present case by the State Police cannot be considered to be in any way unauthorized or contrary to law, thus defect or illegality in investigation will not have any bearing on the competence or procedure relating to cognizance or trial

SUDHA GUPTA vs STATE OF HP CRMMO 307/16 04/01/20 [ Vivek JJ ]

[ HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT ]