The Supreme Court has referred to a larger bench the question of whether an officer investigating a matter under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act would qualify as a police officer or not for the purpose of probe. A bench of justices AK Patnaik and A K Sikri said the matter needs to be examined whether narcotic bureau officers stand on an equal footing with police officers in order to interrogate and to record confessional statements of the accused. ‘We are of the view that the matter needs to be referred to a larger bench for re-consideration of the issue as to whether the officer investigating the matter under NDPS Act would qualify as police officer or not,’ the bench said.