1. This is a reference made by the learned Sessions Judge of Trivandrum recommending that the order of the Sub-Magistrate, Kattakada releasing from custody the respondent who was the second accused in a murder case be quashed. The grounds stated by the learned Magistrate for the action that he took was that the accused before him had been in detention for more than fifteen days without the charge sheet being submitted and that this cannot be done under S.167 Cr. P. C. The learned Magistrate was of the view that before the submission of the report by the police under S.173 Cr. P. C., he had no jurisdiction to remand the accused to judicial custody under S.344 Cr. P. C.

2. The view of the learned Magistrate does not appear to be correct. There are two sections in the Criminal Procedure Code which empower the Magistrate to grant time to the police in connection with the investigation of a case. Under S.61 of the Criminal Procedure Code no police officer shall detain in custody a person arrested without warrant for a longer period than under all the circumstances of the case is reasonable and such period shall not, in the absence of a special order of a Magistrate under S.16