Patna High Court
Akhilesh Rai @ Akhilesh Kumar RaiversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court ordered provisional anticipatory bail, subject to bond, sureties, and verification of the petitioner’s antecedents, with confirmation contingent on a clean record.
Summary
The petitioner, Akhilesh Rai, sought anticipatory bail after learning of a pending case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022, alleging possession of 17 litres of liquor recovered from a joint family house. He argued that he had no conscious possession, the liquor was in a shared property, and the only evidence was a confessional statement of his nephew taken while in police custody, which he claimed lacked evidentiary value. He also highlighted that the 2018 amendment to the Excise Act abolished the concepts of deemed possession and presumed offender. The State opposed the bail. The court, considering these submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail on the condition of a modest bond and two sureties, directing the trial court to verify the petitioner’s criminal antecedents before confirming the bail.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted in a case of alleged liquor possession under Section 30(a) after the 2018 amendment removing deemed possession.
- Whether a confessional statement of a co-accused taken in police custody is admissible as evidence.
- Whether joint family ownership of the premises negates the presumption of possession by the petitioner.
Legislation cited
- B.N.S.S. — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- deemed possession
- presumed offender
- confessional statement
- joint family property
- criminal antecedent
- Bihar Excise Law
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.29087 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-39 Year-2026 Thana- SARAI RANJAN District- Samastipur
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Akhilesh Rai @ Akhilesh Kumar Rai S/o Late Ramprit Rai Resident of -
Ward no. 03, Sarairanjan, P.S - Sarairanjan, District - Samastipur, Bihar
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Keshav Bhardwaj
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Ram Sumiran Rai
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 30-04-2026 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 offence punishable under Section 30(a) of
Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of
recovery of 17 litres of liquor from house of Vikash. It is next
submitted that petitioner was not arrested from the spot as such
nothing was recovered from his conscious possession and the
house in question is a joint family property as such it cannot be
alleged with certainty that it was 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 in the year
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.29087 of 2026(2) dt.30-04-2026
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2018, the concept of deemed possession and presumed offender
has been done away with and he came to be implicated based on
confessional statement of his nephew namely Vikash in police
custody which does not have any evidentiary value. It is also
submitted that after amendment in the Excise Act in the year
2018, the concept of deemed possession and presumed offender
has been done away with.
4. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for
anticipatory bail of the petitioner.
5. Considering the submissions made by the learned
counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner above-named, in the
event of his arrest or surrender 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 Sarairanjan P.S. Case No.39/2026, subject to
the conditions as laid down under Section 482(2) of the
B.N.S.S.
6. It is made clear that the learned trial court thereafter
shall verify the criminal antecedents of the petitioner and in the
event if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of even one
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.29087 of 2026(2) dt.30-04-2026
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case, in that event, it would be presumed that petitioner had
concealed his antecedent before this court, as such, the
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.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
amit/-
U T
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