Police custody remand may still be valid after fifteen days where diligence is shown and remand remained pending.

Section 167 CrPC does not create an absolute bar on police custody remand after fifteen days from arrest where the investigating agency has acted with due diligence and the question of remand was not finally determined within that period. The HC distinguished the cited precedent because the accused had not been remanded to judicial custody after police custody was initially refused. On those peculiar facts, the delayed order granting seven days' police remand was held valid, since the continued investigation of a serious economic offence could not be defeated merely by the timing of the revisional order.

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Issues: Whether police custody remand can be ordered after expiry of the initial period of fifteen days from arrest, where no remand order had been passed earlier and the investigation continued with due diligence.

Analysis: Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 governs remand during investigation and permits detention in police custody or judicial custody, with police custody being limited to the initial period contemplated by law. The Court held that the statutory right of the investigating agency to effectively investigate a serious economic offence cannot be defeated merely because the revisional order granting custody was passed after fifteen days from arrest, where the investigating agency had acted promptly and the question of remand had remained pending. The Court further held that the facts differed from the cited precedent because, in the present case, the accused had not been remanded to judicial custody by the Magistrate when police custody was refused.

Conclusion: The Court held that there is no absolute bar against granting remand in the peculiar facts of the case after the expiry of fifteen days from arrest, and the order granting seven days' remand was valid.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the investigating agency has acted with due diligence and remand has not been finally determined within the initial period, the expiry of fifteen days from arrest does not by itself bar the Court from passing a remand order under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

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