Patna High Court
Akhilesh YadavversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail with conditions, pending verification of the petitioner’s criminal antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Akhilesh Yadav, sought anticipatory bail fearing arrest in a case under Section 30(a)(d) of the Bihar Excise Act, alleging that the alleged seizure of 110 litres of liquor and 2000 litres of soaked Mahua occurred at a furnace not belonging to him and that he was implicated by a hostile chowkidar. He has two prior cases under the Excise Act, but contends that nothing was recovered from his possession and that the police investigation was mechanically driven. The State opposed the bail. The Court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a Rs.10,000 bond with two sureties and directed verification of his criminal antecedent. If more than two prior cases are found, the bail will not be confirmed; if exactly two, the provisional order will be confirmed. The order is subject to Section 482(2) of the BNSS.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner in a case under Section 30(a)(d) of the Bihar Excise Act given his prior criminal antecedent and the circumstances of alleged recovery.
Legislation cited
- BNSS — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- Bihar Excise Act
- Section 30
- criminal antecedent
- provisional bail
- FIR
- liquor seizure
- Mahua
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.23303 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-135 Year-2022 Thana- GURUA District- Gaya
======================================================
Akhilesh Yadav S/o Dewarik Yadav @ Dewarika Yadav R/o Village -
Jaynagar, P.O - Nagwagarh, P.S- Gurua, District - Gaya
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Ms.Rabia Gulnaz
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Md. Shakir Ahmad
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 09-04-2026 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)(d) of
the Bihar Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner has antecedent of two cases under the Excise Act and
allegation is of recovery of 110 litres of liquor along with 2000
litres of soaked Mahua near a furnace.
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
and petitioner has no concern with the furnace but then he came
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.23303 of 2026(2) dt.09-04-2026
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to be implicated at the instance of Chowkidar with whom he is
on an inimical term. It is next submitted that if Chowkidar was
aware about the involvement of the petitioner in the occurrence,
then why he did not inform the police prior to institution of the
instant FIR, which casts an aspersion on the case of the
prosecution. It is further 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 Gurua P.S. Case No.
135 of 2022, 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
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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 in that event the provisional anticipatory
bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sumit/-
U T
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