Patna High Court
Vishnu Yadav @ Vishnu KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to conditions and verification of antecedents.
Summary
Vishnu Yadav sought anticipatory bail after learning that he might be arrested in a case under the Bihar Excise Act for alleged recovery of 64.5 litres of liquor from a public bush near the Sone river. He argued that the liquor was not in his possession, the location did not belong to him, and that the investigation relied solely on secret information without proper inquiry. The State opposed the bail. The Court, considering these submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a Rs.5,000 bond with two sureties and directed the trial court to verify the petitioner’s criminal antecedents within six weeks. If more than one prior case is found, the bail may be revoked; otherwise, the provisional order will be confirmed. The order was made under Section 482(2) of the BNSS.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted in an excise case where the alleged contraband was not recovered from the accused’s possession.
- Whether the prosecution’s reliance on secret information without a proper investigation justifies denial of bail.
- Whether the trial court should verify the petitioner’s criminal antecedents before confirming the provisional bail.
Legislation cited
- BNSS — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- seizure of liquor
- secret information
- Section 482
- Bihar Excise Act
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.15370 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-259 Year-2025 Thana- DALMIYA NAGAR SAHAYAK
District- Rohtas
======================================================
Vishnu Yadav @ Vishnu Kumar S/o- Gorakh Yadav @ Dineshwar Singh
Resident of Village- Makraien PS- Dalmianagar District-Rohtas
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Siddharth Harsh
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Umesh Lal Verma
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 16-03-2026 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)(c)(d),
33 and 36 of the Bihar Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner has antecedent of one case under the Excise Act and
allegation is of recovery of 64.500 litres of liquor from a bush
near the bank of Sone river.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner was not arrested from the spot as such nothing was
recovered from his conscious possession and even the alleged
recovery is from a place which does not belong to the petitioner
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and is accessible to public at large. It is further submitted that he
came to be implicated based on secret information which is the
easiest way to implicate someone. It is also submitted that once
an accused is implicated in a case relating to excise, the police
starts implicating mechanically either at the instance of
Chowkidar, local person, confessional statement or secret
information without holding a proper investigation.
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. 5,000/- (Rupees
Five Thousand) 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 Dalmianagar P.S.
Case No. 259 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 more than one
case then it would be presumed that petitioner, for the purposes of
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seeking anticipatory bail, had concealed his antecedent before this
Court, as such, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall not be
confirmed, but after verification if it is found that petitioner has
antecedent of one case in that event the provisional anticipatory
bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sumit/-
U T
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