JUDGMENT :

1. Heard Sri Bal Ram Gupta, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri Pankaj Saxena, learned Additional Government Advocate-I appearing for the State-respondent.

2. The present petition has been filed seeking to assail the order dated 12.07.2023 passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate, Court No.9, Kanpur Nagar in Misc. Case No.1124 of 2023 (Syed Tariq Umar Vs. Rakesh Kumar Awasthi and others), whereby the final report submitted by the police has been rejected and a direction has been issued for further investigation.

3. The principal ground urged to assail the aforesaid order is that no protest petition was filed by the informant before the concerned Magistrate and despite the same, the order impugned has been passed.

4. It is further sought to be contended that the power to order investigation by the police under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973[CrPC] CrPC can only be invoked by the Magistrate before he takes cognizance of the offence under Section 190(1)(a), and such a direction could not have been issued in exercise of powers under Section 173(8), wherein the investigating officer alone has been authorized to conduct further investigation.

5. Learned