Rajesh SahniversusThe State of Bihar

                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                              CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.30937 of 2026
                    Arising Out of PS. Case No.-95 Year-2026 Thana- MUSAHARI District- Muzaffarpur
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           1.     Rajesh Sahni S/O Bechan Sahani R/O Village- Bishunpur Jagdish, P.S.-
                  Mushahari, District- Muzaffarpur
           2.    Ravi Sahni S/O Bechan Sahani R/O Village- Bishunpur Jagdish, P.S.-
                 Mushahari, District- Muzaffarpur
           3.     Lakhindra Sahni S/O Late Subelal Sahni R/O Village- Gudhmi @ Gudhami,
                  P.S.- Mushahari, District- Muzaffarpur
                                                                             ... ... Petitioner/s
                                                     Versus
                 The State of Bihar
                                                                      ... ... Opposite Party/s
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                 Appearance :
                 For the Petitioner/s     :       Mr. Yugal Kishore, Advocate
                 For the Opposite Party/s :       Ms. Shaheen Begum, A.P.P.
                 ======================================================
                 CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
                                       ORAL ORDER

2   07-05-2026                  1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and

                   learned A.P.P. for the State.

                                2. The petitioners apprehend their arrest in a case

                   registered for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) of the

                   Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022.

                                3. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that

                   petitioner no. 1 has antecedent of two cases under the Excise

                   Act and petitioners no. 2 and 3 have antecedent of one case

                   under the Excise Act and allegation is of recovery of 49 litres of

                   liquor from the house of petitioner no. 3, 15 litres of liquor from

                   the house of Sunil Sahani and 41 litres of liquor from the bank

                   of Budhi Gandak River.

                                4. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that
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          petitioners were not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was

          recovered from their conscious possession. It is further

          submitted that the house in question is a joint family property, as

          such, it cannot be alleged with certainty that it was the

          petitioners who had kept the liquor in the house or the liquor

          kept in the house was within their knowledge and after

          amendment in the Excise Act in the year 2018, the concept of

          deemed possession and presumed offender has been done away

          with. It is next submitted that petitioners came to be implicated

          at the instance of the Chawkidar with whom they are on an

          inimical term. It is also submitted that once an accused is

          implicated in a case relating to excise the police start

          implicating mechanically either at the instance of the

          Chawkidar, local person, confessional statement or secret

          information without holding a proper investigation of the case.

                       5. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for

          anticipatory bail of the petitioners.

                       6. Considering the submissions made by the learned

          counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, let the

          petitioners, above-named, in the event of their arrest or

          surrender within a period of six weeks from today, be released

          on provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of
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                     Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) each 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 Mushahari P.S. Case No. 95 of 2026, subject to the

                     conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the

                     Cr.P.C./482(2) of the B.N.S.S.

                                  7. However, it is made clear that thereafter the learned

                     Trial Court shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioners

                     and if it is found that petitioner no. 1 has antecedent of more

                     than two cases and petitioners no. 2 and 3 have antecedent of

                     more than one case, it would be presumed that petitioners had

                     concealed their antecedent before this Court, at para 3 of the

                     anticipatory bail application, in that event, the provisional

                     anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed, but, if it is found

                     on verification that petitioner no. 1 has antecedent of only two

                     cases and petitioners no. 2 and 3 have antecedent of only one

                     case, in that event, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall

                     be confirmed forthwith.


                                                                          (Satyavrat Verma, J)

Kundan/-

U     T