Patna High Court
Kunal Sungh @ Kunal KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court held that anticipatory bail may be granted provisionally because the petitioner lacks proven possession, the confessional statement is inadmissible, and he appears to have a clean antecedent, subject to verification.
Summary
The petitioner, Kunal Sungh, sought anticipatory bail fearing arrest in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Amendment Act, 2022, where 72 litres of liquor were allegedly recovered from a vehicle and his joint‑family house. He argued that he had no prior criminal record, the liquor was not found in his immediate possession, he was not the owner of the vehicle, and the only incriminating evidence was a confessional statement made by another person in police custody, which he claimed lacked evidentiary value. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, after considering these submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a modest bond and sureties, and directed the trial court to verify the petitioner’s antecedents before confirming the bail. The order emphasized that if any prior case is found, the bail would not be confirmed. The decision hinged on the lack of proven possession, the inadmissibility of the confessional statement, and the petitioner’s clean record, applying Section 482(2) of the CrPC.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted when the alleged offence is based solely on a confessional statement made in police custody and no possession is established.
- Whether the provisions of Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Amendment Act, 2022, justify arrest without concrete evidence of possession.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- possession
- confessional statement
- Bihar Prohibition and Excise Amendment Act
- clean antecedent
- Section 482 CrPC
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.18348 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-434 Year-2025 Thana- SHEOHAR District- Sheohar
======================================================
Kunal Sungh @ Kunal Kumar S/o Kunwar Singh @ Ramnath Singh R/o vill -
Chamanpur, P.s.- Sheohar, Distt.- Sheohar
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Uday Kumar
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Akbar Ali
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 25-03-2026 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 offence punishable under Section 30(a) of
Bihar Prohibition and Excise Amendment Act, 2022.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of
recovery of 72 litres of liquor from an auto and house of the
petitioner. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested
from the spot as such nothing was recovered from his conscious
possession and is not the owner of the seized vehicle and the
house in question is a joint family property as such it cannot be
alleged with certainty that it was petitioner, who had kept the
liquor in the house or the liquor kept in the house was within his
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.18348 of 2026(2) dt.25-03-2026
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knowledge and after amendment in the Excise Act in the year
2018, the concept of deemed possession and presumed offender
has been done away with and he came to be implicated based on
confessional statement of Raja in police custody which does not
have any evidentiary value.
4. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for
anticipatory bail of the petitioner.
5. Considering the submissions made by the learned
counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner above-named, in the
event of his arrest or surrender 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 Sheohar P.S. Case No.434/2025, subject to the
conditions as laid down under Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S.
6. It is made clear that the learned trial court thereafter
shall verify the criminal antecedents of the petitioner and in the
event if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of even one
case, in that event, it would be presumed that petitioner had
concealed his antecedent before this court, as such, the
provisional anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed but if
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.18348 of 2026(2) dt.25-03-2026
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on verification 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)
amit/-
U T
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