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Patna High Court

Rohit Gupta @ Rohit KumarversusThe State of Bihar

Decided
Disposal
DISPOSED

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

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
                                            2/3




          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
                                                           3/3




                         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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