1. Tarsem Kumar has been charged with an offence under Section 302, Indian Penal Code. He prays for bail on the short ground that the challan was put in by the police beyond a period of sixty days of his arrest and so the Magistrate should have ordered his release on bail on the sixtieth day in terms of Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

2. The petitioner was arrested on October 19, 1974, and the report under Section 173 of the Code was received by the Court on December 18, 1974, when the Court took cognizance of the offence.

3. Mr. S.L. Chaudhry, learned Counsel for the petitioner, contends that sixty days referred to in Section 167 of the Code are to be calculated from the date of the arrest of an accused. The relevant portion of Section 167 of the Code is in the following terms :

"167. (1) Whenever any person is arrested and detained in custody, and it appears that the investigation cannot be completed within the period of twenty-four hours fixed by Section 57 and there are grounds for believing that the accusation or information is well founded the officer in charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation, if he is not below