Patna High Court
Raju Sah @ Raju Kumar SahversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to conditions and verification of the petitioner’s antecedent.
Summary
Petitioner Raju Sah sought anticipatory bail after learning that he may be arrested in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act concerning the alleged recovery of 570 litres of liquor and 7,000 litres of raw Jawa from a riverbank. The petitioner argued that no liquor was found in his possession, the alleged recovery site did not belong to him, and the FIR omitted the informant’s name, casting doubt on the prosecution’s case. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, considering these submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a bail bond of Rs.10,000 with two sureties and directed verification of the petitioner’s criminal antecedent. If more than two prior cases are found, the bail will not be confirmed; if only two are found, the provisional order will be confirmed. The order was made under Section 482(2) of the BNSS.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act.
- Whether the lack of possession and omission of the informant’s name in the FIR justify granting anticipatory bail.
- Whether the petitioner’s criminal antecedent affects the confirmation of anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- BNSS — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- Section 30
- Bihar Excise Act
- Section 482
- criminal antecedent
- FIR
- police investigation
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.1839 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-507 Year-2025 Thana- LALGANJ District- Vaishali
======================================================
Raju Sah @ Raju Kumar Sah Son of Pannalal Sah Resident of Village -
Khajauli, P.S. - Lalganj, District - Vaishali.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Shyameshwar Kumar Singh, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Madan Kumar, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 22-01-2026 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 has antecedent of two cases and allegation is of
recovery of 570 liters of liquor from a place near bank of
Gandak river along with 7000 liters of raw Jawa which was
destroyed.
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 even alleged
recovery is from a place which does not belong to the petitioner
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.1839 of 2026(2) dt.22-01-2026
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and is accessible to villagers at large and he came to be
implicated at the instance of local person, but then the name of
the person who disclosed the name of the petitioner is not
disclosed in the FIR which casts an aspersion on the case of the
prosecution. 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.
10,000/- (Rupees Ten 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 Lalganj
P.S. Case No. 507 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
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Court shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and
in the event if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of more
than two cases 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
anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed, but after
verification if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of two
cases only, in that event the provisional anticipatory bail order
shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sanjay/-
U T
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