Patna High Court
Sushil KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner, subject to verification of his antecedents.
Summary
The petitioner, Sushil Kumar, was implicated in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act for the alleged recovery of 300.9 litres of liquor from his Scorpio vehicle and a flour mill. He contended that the liquor was not found in his conscious possession and that he was unaware of his driver’s alleged misuse of the vehicle. The State opposed his prayer for anticipatory bail. The High Court, considering the petitioner’s clean antecedent and the circumstances, granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties and conditioned on verification of his criminal record. The order stipulated that if any antecedent is discovered, the bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed forthwith.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted to the petitioner under Section 482(2) of the BNSS in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act.
- Whether the petitioner’s ownership of the vehicle, without conscious possession of the seized liquor, justifies anticipatory bail.
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- vehicle ownership
- clean antecedent
- Section 30
- Section 482
- Bihar Excise Act
- BNSS
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.1013 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-146 Year-2025 Thana- SIWAIPATTI District- Muzaffarpur
======================================================
Sushil Kumar S/o- Bharat Prasad Village- Pipra Khem PS- Kalyanpur Parsoni
Distt- East Champaran
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ashutosh Kumar, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Anand Kishore Choudhary, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 20-01-2026 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and
learned A.P.P. for the State.
2. The petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case
registered for the offences punishable under Section 30(a) of the
Bihar Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of
recovery of 300.9 liters of liquor from a Scorpio vehicle and
from a flour mill of Chandan Rai.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner was not apprehended from the spot as such nothing
was recovered from his conscious possession and he came to be
implicated based on the fact that he is owner of the seized
vehicle. It is next submitted that no prudent person would use
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.1013 of 2026(2) dt.20-01-2026
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his own vehicle for committing an occurrence and thus would
create evidence against himself and hence would get implicated,
it is also submitted that petitioner was completely unaware that
his driver would misuse the vehicle in the manner as alleged.
5. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for
anticipatory bail of the petitioner.
6. Considering the submissions made by the learned
counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner above-named, in the
event of his arrest or surrender before the learned Trial Court
within a period of six weeks from today, be released on
Provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.
500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the like
amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Trial Court where
the case is pending/successor court in connection with
Siwaipatti P.S. Case No. 146 of 2025 subject to the conditions as
laid down under Section 482 (2) of the BNSS.
7. It is made clear that thereafter the learned Trial
Court shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and
in the event if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of even
one case then it would be presumed that petitioner, for the
purposes of seeking anticipatory bail, had concealed his
antecedent before this Court, as such, the provisional
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.1013 of 2026(2) dt.20-01-2026
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anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed, but after
verification if it is found that petitioner is a person with clean
antecedent in that event the provisional anticipatory bail order
shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Rishabh/-
U T
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