In Narcotics Cases, Police Officer Can Be Both, an Informant and the Investigating Officer: Supreme Court

The judgment was passed in the case of Mukesh Singh v. State (Narcotic Branch of Delhi) 

The Constitution Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, MR Shah, and Ravindra Bhat gave the judgment. The issue before the Court was whether an investigation under the NDPS Act would be considered void if the informant was also the investigating officer in the case.

In this regard, the Court held that when the informant and the investigation officer (IO) is the same, the Court will have to decide on a case to case basis. In the instant case, no automatic apprehension of bias exists as such. 

It is pertinent to note that a contradictory judgment was passed on a similar issue in 2018. Back then, a three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court held that the trial stands vitiated if the informant and the IO are the same. 

This judgment was questioned by a two-Judge Bench in the case of Mukesh Singh v. State (Narcotic Branch of Delhi). This is why the Bench of Justices UU Lalit and MR Shah directed the registry to place the papers before the Hon'ble Chief Justice so that a Bench of appropriate strength can be constituted to consider the matter.