The main legal point established in the judgment is that the magistrate has the power to order further investigation even after taking cognizance of the offence.

( 1 ) THIS petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short the Code ) read with Article 227 of the Constitution of India was assigned to a learned Single Judge of this Court. The learned Single Judge was of the opinion that the petition should be heard and decided by a Division Bench in view of the fact that the impugned order passed by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate dated 11/12/1996 entrusting investigation of the case under Section 498a/306/34 Indian Penal Code to the D. C. P. (Crime) was based on a judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Criminal Writ No. 359/96 dated Augu 26/08/1996 taking the view that under sub-section (3) of Section 156 of the Code a magistrate always has the power to order investigation into a crime and this power does not get extinguished with the filing of the challan before him under Section 173 (2) of the Code, whicl was contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court in Randhir Singh Rana v. State, 65 (1997) DLT 207. Pursuant to the order of the learned Single Judge the File was placed before Hon ble the Chief Justice on the administrative side for assigning the matter to a Division Bench. However, Hon ble the Chief Justice considered it appropriate to constitute a Full Bench to hear the matter. This is how the petition was listed before us for disposal.

( 2 ) THIS petition arises in the following circumstances : The deceased Geeta was married to the petitioner Rajneesh son of Trilok Chand Singhal. The marriage took place in the year 1986. On 4/01/1996, Geeta was ad- mitted in Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital by Rajneesh where she died on 5/01/1996. On Jan 4/01/1996 itself at about 4. 05 P. M. , Mahesh, the brother of the deceased, made a statement at Police Station Rajouri Garden by way of a complaint. According to the complaint, after a few days of marriage of his sister, her mother-in- law, Nirmala, and father-in-law, Trilok Chand, started making demands on account of dowry. They taunted her for bringing insufficient dowry. The deceased was ill-treated, abused and given beating by Munish, younger brother of the petitioner, Trilok Chand, and Nirmala. This situation came about a year before her death and after the time of marriage of Munish. They used to deride her saying that Munish s wife had brought more dowry as compared to her. The deceased used to complain about the behaviour of her in-laws over the telephone and on her visits to the parental home. On her last visit on 3/01/1996, she complained that Trilok Chand and Nirmala had told her that unless a sum of Rs. 50,000. 00 was paid to them she will not be permitted to return to the matrimonial home. A day after, on 4/01/1996 the complainant received a telephone call from Rajneesh that Geeta had consumed something and was admitted in DDU Hospital. Her condition was so serious that the complainant on reaching the DDU Hospital found that Geeta was not even fit to make a statement. In his complaint he expressed his suspicion that the crime was committed by her in-laws. Pursuant to the complaint a search of the matrimonial home was made but nothing was recovered. After the death of the deceased an FIR was registered at Police Station Rajouri Garden on 5/01/1996 under Sections 498a and 306 Indian Penal Code. On 5/01/1996 a search of the matrimonial home of the deceased was allegedly conducted for the second time and the police claimed recovery of a suicide note in the handwriting of the deceased from under her pillow. The police also asserted that C. F. S. L. report supports their claim. On culmination of the investigation a challan was filed before the Metropolitan Magistrate against Rajneesh, Munish, Trilok Chand and Nirmala accusing them of having committed offences under Sections 498a and 306 Indian Penal Code On the filing of the challan, the Metropolitan Magistrate passed the following order on 23/03/1996 :-

"present: APP for State. Fresh challan filed today. Let it be checked and registered