The court ruled that consent under Section 45 of the Cr.P.C. was not required for the petitioner's arrest, affirming the jurisdiction of the Special Judge and the validity of remand orders.

JUDGMENT :

SARANG V. KOTWAL, J.

1. Heard Mr. Rounak Naik, learned counsel for the Petitioner, Mr. Sandesh Patil, learned counsel for the Respondent No.1/NIA and Mr. Yagnik, learned APP for the State.

2. This is a writ petition praying for writ of habeas corpus alleging that the Petitioner’s detention is illegal. The Petitioner is seeking his release forthwith. Though, there are many grounds raised in the petition, learned counsel for the Petitioner restricted his arguments to the grounds which are noted and considered in the following discussion.

3. Before referring to the submissions made by the learned counsel on behalf of the Petitioner, it is necessary to mention the background as to how the Petitioner came to be arraigned as an accused. There were three separate incidents, apparently having no connection with each other; however, as the events unfolded subsequently, it was realised that all these three incidents were interconnected and the Petitioner was a common factor involved in all these three incidents. These incidents are as follows:

1) C.R.No.47 of 2021 was registered at Vikhroli police station on 18.02.2021 against an unknown accused. The first informant was one Mansukh Hiren. His grievance was that his Mahindra Scorpio vehicle was stolen.

On 26.02.2021, C.I.U. Crime Branch, Mumbai took over the investigation of that offence by registering their own F.I.R. vide C.R.No.41 of 2021. At this stage, the Petitioner was the Investigating Officer.

On 07.03.2021 the Anti-Terrorism Squad (for short ‘ATS’) took over the investigation of the same offence by registering their own F.I.R. vide C.R.No.11 of 2021 U/s.379 of the I.P.C.

On 21.05.2021, the National Investigation Agency (for short ‘NIA’) included the investigation of this offence in their ongoing investigation in connection with their F No.11011/19/2021/NIA.

2) C.R.No.35 of 2021 was registered at Gamdevi police station on 25.02.2021, under sections 286, 465, 473, 506(2), 120B of the I.P.C. and U/s.4(a)(b)(i) of the Explosive Substances Act. It was registered against an unknown accused. It was in connection with one Mahindra Scorpio car found near the residential building of a prominent industrialist.

This investigation was taken over by C.I.U., Crime Branch, Mumbai by registering their own C.R.No.40 of 2021. At this stage, the Petitioner was the Investigating Officer.

On 07.03.2021, the ATS took over this investigation by registering their own C.R.No.10 of 2021. By the order of the Central Government, on 08.03.2021, the NIA took over the investigation of this offence by registering their F No.11011/19/2021/NIA.

3) Mumbra police station, Thane, A.D.R.No.39 of 2021 U/s.174 of the Cr.p.c. was registered on 05.03.2021. This was registered after the dead body of the aforementioned Mansukh Hiren was found.

On 07.03.2021, ATS took over this investigation by registering their own C.R.No.12 of 2021, under sections 302, 201 and 120B r/w.34 of the I.P.C. Even this investigation was transferred to NIA on 20.03.2021 in their ongoing investigation F No.11011/19/2021/NIA.

4. All these ostensibly unconnected incidents were ultimately found to have had a common thread and the entire matter was investigated by the NIA vide their F No.11011/19/2021/NIA. The investigation was completed and the charge-sheet was filed before the learned Special Judge, Mumbai. The investigation was carried out vide RC/01/NIA/Mum.

5. The Petitioner was arrested by the NIA on