Patna High Court
Lakshmi BabuversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner, subject to verification of his antecedent and compliance with the stipulated conditions.
Summary
Lakshmi Babu, the owner of a motorcycle from which 13.875 litres of liquor was recovered, applied for anticipatory bail after being implicated in an offence under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act. He argued that he had no conscious possession of the liquor and was unaware that his vehicle would be misused by others. The State opposed the bail, contending that the seizure linked the petitioner to the offence. The High Court, considering the petitioner’s clean antecedent and the fact that the liquor was not found in his possession, granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties and a six‑week period for surrender, pending verification of his criminal record. The order also stipulated that if any antecedent is discovered, the bail would be revoked, but if the petitioner remains clean, the bail would be confirmed.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act where the accused is the owner of the vehicle but not in possession of the contraband.
- Whether ownership of the seized vehicle alone suffices to implicate the accused.
- Whether the conditions imposed under Section 482(2) of the BNSS are appropriate for provisional anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- Bihar Negotiable Securities Act — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise offence
- vehicle ownership
- Section 30 Bihar Excise Act
- Section 482 CrPC
- bail conditions
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.21089 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-232 Year-2025 Thana- NEORA District- Patna
======================================================
Lakshmi Babu S/o Ram Naresh Singh R/O- Ward no 10, Central Co-operative
Bank, P.s- Koilwar, District- Bhojpur
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ghanshyam Tiwary
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Anand Kishore Choudhary
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 01-04-2026 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 13.875 liters of liquor from a motorcycle.
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
his own vehicle for committing an occurrence and thus would
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create evidence against himself and hence would get implicated,
it is further submitted that petitioner was completely unaware
that Aman would misuse the vehicle in the manner as alleged
who was also apprehended from the spot along with Saurav and
Chandan.
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 Neora
P.S. Case No. 232 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
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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.
8. At this stage, the learned counsel appearing on behalf
of the petitioner submits that inadvertently at Para-8 of the
anticipatory bail application it has been pleaded that petitioner is
not the owner of the seized vehicle, but at Para-7 it has been
specifically pleaded that petitioner is the owner of the seized
vehicle.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Rishabh/-
U T
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