Patna High Court
Rakesh ManjhiversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner, subject to conditions and verification of his antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Rakesh Manjhi, sought anticipatory bail in a case registered under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act for alleged recovery of 10 litres of liquor from a location adjacent to his house. He argued that he has a clean antecedent, the alleged liquor was not found in his possession, and the FIR was based on undisclosed informant information, casting doubt on the prosecution's case. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail on the condition of furnishing bail bonds and two sureties, subject to verification of the petitioner’s criminal antecedent by the trial court. The order stipulated that if any antecedent is discovered, the bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed forthwith. The court invoked Section 482(2) of the CrPC in its reasoning.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner under the circumstances of the case.
- Whether the FIR, based on undisclosed informant information, is sufficient to deny bail.
- Whether the petitioner’s clean antecedent satisfies the conditions for anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Section 30(a) Bihar Excise Act
- clean antecedent
- Section 482 CrPC
- high court bail order
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.18395 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-932 Year-2025 Thana- MASAUDHI District- Patna
======================================================
Rakesh Manjhi S/o Biteshwer Manjhi R/o vill - Nadaul Musahri, P.S.-
Masaurhi, Distt.- Patna
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Ravi Ranjan
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Bishweshwar Ram
======================================================
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 offences punishable under Section 30(a) of the
Bihar Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of
recovery of 10 litres of liquor from a place in front of the house
of the petitioner.
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,
but then is adjacent to his house and he came to be implicated at
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the instance of local people, 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,
when petitioner was not implicated based on secret information.
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 Masaurhi
P.S. Case No. 932 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 anticipatory bail order shall not be
confirmed, but after verification if it is found that petitioner is a
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person with clean antecedent in that event the provisional
anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sumit/-
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