Patna High Court
Rohit Gupta @ Rohit KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner, subject to bail bonds, sureties and verification of his antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Rohit Gupta, applied for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code in connection with a case registered under Sections 30(a) and 30(d) of the Excise Act for alleged possession of liquor and mahua. He argued that the liquor was recovered from a joint family house, that he had no conscious possession, and that the amended Excise Act had done away with the concept of deemed possession. The petitioner also highlighted his clean antecedent and suggested that the complainant, a watchman, had a personal enmity and failed to report the matter earlier. The State opposed the bail, contending that the allegations warranted custody. The Court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail on the condition of furnishing bail bonds and sureties, and directed verification of the petitioner’s antecedent before confirming the order. The order also required the petitioner to deposit a further amount with the Advocates’ Association.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted under Section 438 CrPC for offences under Sections 30(a) and 30(d) of the Excise Act.
- Whether the alleged possession can be treated as ‘deemed possession’ after the 2018 amendment to the Excise Act.
- Whether the petitioner’s clean criminal antecedent justifies the grant of anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 438(2)
- Excise Act — s. 30(a), 30(d)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Section 438 CrPC
- Excise Act
- deemed possession
- criminal antecedent
- joint family property
- provisional bail
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.2880 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-245 Year-2025 Thana- SAHAR District- Bhojpur
======================================================
Rohit Gupta @ Rohit Kumar Son of Ramnath Gupta @ Ram Nath Prasad @
Ramnath Saw @ Ramnath Prasad Resident of Village- Sahar, P.S.- Sahar,
District- Bhojpur
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Diwakar .
For the Opposite Party/s : Dr. Kumar Uday Pratap
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 28-01-2026 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and
learned APP for the State.
2. The petitioner seeks bail in anticipation of his
arrest in a case registered for the offences punishable under
Sections 30(a)(d) of the Excise Act.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
the petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is
of recovery of 59.750 litres of liquor from the house of the
petitioner along with 235 litres of mahua pass which was
destroyed.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was
recovered from his conscious possession and even the house in
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.2880 of 2026(2) dt.28-01-2026
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question is a joint family property and thus, it cannot be alleged
with certainty that it was the petitioner, who had kept the liquor
in the house or the liquor kept in the house was within his
knowledge and after Amendment in the Excise Act, 2018, the
concept of deemed possession and presumed offender has been
done away with and he came to be implicated at the instance of
Chaukidar with whom he is on an inimical term. It is further
submitted that if Chaukidar was aware of the involvement of the
petitioners in the occurrence, then why he did not inform the
police prior to institution of the present F.I.R., which casts an
aspersion on the case of the prosecution.
5. Learned A.P.P. opposes the anticipatory bail
application.
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 Court below
within a period of six weeks, is directed to be released on
provisional anticipatory bail on his furnishing bail-bonds in the
sum 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
Sahar P. S. Case No.245 of 2025, subject to the conditions laid
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.2880 of 2026(2) dt.28-01-2026
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down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C.
7. The application stands allowed.
8. It is made clear that the learned trial Court after
accepting the provisional bail bonds of the petitioner 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 obtaining
anticipatory bail had concealed his antecedent before this Court,
in that event, the present provisional anticipatory bail order shall
not be confirmed, but if 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.
9. At this stage, the learned counsel appearing on
behalf of the petitioner based on instruction submits that
petitioner undertakes to deposit an amount of Rs.1500/- with
Advocates’ Association, Patna High Court, Patna.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
vikash/-
U T
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