of the provision and therefore, the petitioner is not a fit officer to remain in police officer, though the punishment imposed was minor. 14. Upon perusal of Section 167(2) of Cr. P.C., this Court finds that there is no outer time limit provided for completion of investigation, but it only provides that the accused cannot be detained in custody, pending investigation, for a period exceeding 90 or 60 days as the case may be. If the investigation is not completed within 90 days or 60 days as the case may be, the accused is entitled to be released on bail, if he is prepared to and furnishes the bail bond. Thus Section 167(2) of Cr.P.C. neither provides any outer time limit for completion of investigation nor provides that the accused will stand discharge from the criminal case upon non-completion of investigation within the period mentioned therein. Thus, reliance upon Section 167(2) of Cr.P.C. by the respondents to sustain the punishment imposed upon the petitioner in the departmental proceedings for allegation of noncompletion of investigation within time is devoid of any merits and hence rejected. Neither Section 167(2) of Cr.P.C. provides such an outer limit of time to complete the investigation nor the order endorsing the files to the petitioner had mentioned any date for completion of enquiry handed over to the petitioner.
