HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD Criminal Petition No.7551 of 2009 Dated : 17.09.2009 Between : Thikkavarapu Surendranath Reddy ….. Petitioner a n d The State of A.P. & 2 others ….. Respondents HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD Criminal Petition No.7551 of 2009 ORDER: Heard Sri P.Vamsheedhar Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Sri A.Ramesh, learned counsel representing the learned Public Prosecutor for the first respondent. No notice is being ordered to respondent Nos.2 and 3 as the order being passed herein at the stage of admission has absolutely no adverse impact on the rights and interests of respondent Nos.2 and 3. The petitioner claims that after recording his sworn statement at the time of filing private compliant, the Magistrate has referred the matter to the Police for investigation and report under Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It may be true that if the learned Magistrate has already recorded the sworn statement of the complainant after receiving the private complaint, Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure may not be the appropriate provision under which investigation and report can be called for from the Police, but the Magistrate is undoubtedly empowered under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to postpone the issuance of process and direct an investigation by the Police Officer for the purpose of deciding whether or not there are any sufficient grounds for proceeding and for the purpose of either considering the dismissal of the complaint under Section 203 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or issuance of process and taking cognizance of the offence under Section 204 thereof, the result of the investigation ordered under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure will be a relevant consideration for the Magistrate. The request of the petitioner to have an order against the learned Magistrate to conduct further enquiry into the private complaint by setting aside the earlier order may not be appropriate and the learned Magistrate undoubtedly had jurisdiction to direct such an investigation under Section 202 of the Code and it is also inappropriate to terminate any investigation by the Police in the middle as the Police have already registered the crime in pursuance of the orders of the learned Magistrate. It will be suffice in the interests of justice if the learned Magistrate and the Station House Officer of Muthukuru Police Station, Nellore District, are directed to act expeditiously in the matter avoiding any avoidable delay in Police coming to a conclusion and concluding the investigation and submitting a report to the Magistrate and the learned Magistrate taking further proceedings in accordance with law on receipt of such report. Therefore, the IV Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Nellore, and the Station House Officer, Muthukuru Police Station, Nellore District, are directed to take further action in the matter in accordance with law expeditiously avoiding any avoidable delay. The criminal petition is ordered accordingly. ______________________ G.BHAVANI PRASAD, J 17th September, 2009 SUR