1. The short question that falls for determination, which is common to all the five Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 4766-M, 5812-M and 6077-M of 1977 and 169-M and 293-M of 1978 before us, is as to whether investigation of an offence would be considered complete in terms of S.173 (2) of the Criminal P. C. (hereinafter referred to as the Code), although the police officer investigating the case had not received the reports of such experts as the Chemical Examiner, the Serologist, the Ballistic Expert or the Finger Print Expert, etc. whose reports are made admissible in law under S.293 of the Code, without these being proved by the said experts in the witness-box; and whether a charge-sheet minus the aforesaid documents, when submitted to a Magistrate, would qualify to be termed a police report in terms of S.190 (1) (b) of the Code and enable the Magistrate to take cognizance of the offence disclosed therein.

2. The aforesaid question arises for consideration in the wake of a claim made by all the petitioners except in Criminal Misc. No. 4766-M of 1977 (for facility of reference the accused-petitioners in these petitions are referred to as the petitioners) for their rel