IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Writ Petition No.137 of 2010 (O&M) Date of decision: 5th January, 2011 Darshan Singh … Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others … Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Gurcharan Dass, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. B.S. Sra, Additional AG Punjab for respondents No.1 to 6. None for respondent No.7. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Present criminal writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in the nature of habeas corpus directing the respondent-police officials of the concerned District to produce the body of Prem Singh, brother of the petitioner. It is stated that Prem Singh, brother of the petitioner, was married with Bholi-respondent No.7. The petitioner suspects that Prem Singh has been murdered at the instance of Bholi, who allegedly is having illicit relations with some persons. This Court will not give credence to these allegations, and equally a suspicion cannot be ruled out of consideration that the wife is sought to be involved in the alleged offence to deprive her of the estate of her husband. Be that as it may, the matter of fact remains that till today Prem Singh has not been found. Either he is missing or has been murdered. Therefore, a meaningful investigation is required to be carried- out to find out the whereabouts of Prem Singh. Counsel for the petitioner Criminal Writ Petition No.137 of 2010 (O&M) has stated that only an enquiry has been conducted by ASI Baltej Singh and from the perusal of the report submitted by him, which is at Annexure R-1, it is evident that such an enquiry was an eye-wash. This Court is of the view that the concern of the petitioner about the whereabouts of his brother is required to be looked into by the concerned authorities. Therefore, the present petition is hereby disposed of by observing that in case an application, detailing all the facts and pieces of evidence in possession of the petitioner, is submitted to a superior officer; he shall look into the same in consonance with the provisions of law. Section 36 of the Code of Criminal Procedure reads as under: “36.Powers of superior officers of police.- Police officers superior in rank to an officer in charge of a police station may exercise the same powers, throughout the local area to which they are appointed, as may be exercised by such officer within the limits of his station.” Counsel for the parties are in agreement that in case an application is submitted to the DIG of the concerned Range, he may, exercising the powers under Section 36 of Cr.P.C., carry-on an investigation himself or through any of his subordinates, to arrive at a definite conclusion as to whether Prem Singh is missing or has been murdered. The needful shall be done by the concerned DIG within a period of six months from the date of receipt of such an application. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE January 5, 2011 rps 2