M. VENUGOPAL & P.N. PRAKASH, JJ.

These Criminal Appeals have been preferred challenging the order dated 21.08.2017 passed in Crl.M.P.Nos.1669 and 1670 of 2017 on the file of the Special Court for NIA Cases at Puducherry,

2. The facts in brief leading to the present Appeals are as under:

On 29.01.2014, an explosive device was detected beneath the parked car of an Ex-Central Minister in Puducherry and based on the complaint given by N.Prem Kumar, P.C.015298, who was on duty at the Ex-Minister's residence, a case in Odiansalai Police Station, Puducherry Cr.No.25 of 2014 was registered under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. The case was taken up for further investigation by the CBCID, Puducherry and the penal provisions were altered to include Section 307 IPC and Sections 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (for short "the UAP Act"), apart from Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. On the orders of the Central Government, the case was transferred to the National Investigating Agency (for short "the NIA") on 31.01.2014 and was re-registered as RC.No.01/2014/NIA/HYD on 02.02.2014.

3. A somewhat similar incident took place in Madurai District, in which, a case in Othakkadai Police Station Cr.No.47 of 2014 was registered and the Tamil Nadu police had arrested Thiruselvam @ Kumar [A1], Thangaraj @ Thamizharasan[A2], Kaviarasan @ Raja [A3] and Kalailingam @ Kalai [A4] and during the course of their interrogation, they disclosed about their involvement in the Puducherry case. The Tamil Nadu police produced them before the jurisdictional Magistrate in Tamil Nadu and placed them under judicial remand at Central Prison, Madurai. On being informed, the NIA stepped in and effected formal arrest of Thiruselvam [A1], Thangaraj [A2], Kaviarasan [A3] and Kalailingam [A4] on 03.04.2014 at the Central Prison, Madurai and applied for a P.T. warrant for their production before the Special Court at Puducherry, where the FIR was pending.

4. Similarly, the Tamil Nadu police had arrested one Karthik [A5] and John Martin [A6] in connection with Othakkadai Police Station Cr.No.47 of 2014 and they were remanded to judicial custody. The NIA effected the formal arrest of the said Karthik [A5] and John Martin [A6] while they were in custody in Central Prison, Madurai and Central Prison, Palayamkottai on 15.04.2014 and 18.04.2014 respectively in connection with the Puducherry case. It may be pertinent to state here that these accused were placed under notional arrest by the NIA while they were already in judicial custody for their involvement in Othakkadai Police Station Cr.No.47 of 2014.

5. On the application of the NIA, the Special Court at Puducherry issued P.T. warrant, pursuant to which, Thiruselvam [A1], Thangaraj [A2], Kaviarasan [A3] and Kalailingam [A4] were produced before the Special Court, Puducherry on 09.04.2014 for the first time. Similarly, on the P.T. warrant issued by the Special Court, Puducherry, Karthik [A5] and John Martin [A6] were produced before the Special Court, Puducherry for the first time on 08.05.2014. The NIA took police custody of the arrested accused for their investigation. Thus, for all practical purposes, the statutory period fixed by Section 167 Cr.P.C. should be reckoned for Thiruselvam [A1], Thangaraj [A2], Kaviarasan [A3] and Kalailingam [A4] from 09.04.2014 and for Karthik [A5] and John Martin [A6] from 08.05.2014, those dates being the dates on which they were produced before the Special Court, Puducherry for the first time.

6. The 90-day period reckoned from 09.04.2014 and 08.05.2014 fell on 08.07.2014 and 06.08.2014 respectively, calculation being done based on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Ravi Prakash Singh vs. State of Bihar [(2015) 8 SCC 340]. However, before the expiry of the 90-day period, the Special Public Prosecutor submitted a report under Section 43-D of the UAP Act before the Special Court for NIA cases on 30.06.2014 seeking remand of the accuse