Prashant Shah @ Police Shah @ Prashant KumarversusThe State of Bihar

                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                              CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.43380 of 2026
                  Arising Out of PS. Case No.-142 Year-2026 Thana- CHIRAIYA District- East Champaran
                 ======================================================
                 Prashant Shah @ Police Shah @ Prashant Kumar S/o Shankar Shah Resident
                 of Village- Chiraiya Mahuawa, P.S.- Chiraia, District- East Champaran
                                                                                ... ... Petitioner/s
                                                    Versus
                 The State of Bihar
                                                                         ... ... Opposite Party/s
                 ======================================================
                 Appearance :
                 For the Petitioner/s     :       Mr. Savitesh Kumar, Advocate
                 For the Opposite Party/s :       Mr. Ramesh Chandra, A.P.P.
                 ======================================================
                 CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
                                       ORAL ORDER

2   02-07-2026                  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 the

                   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 14 litres of liquor from the house of the petitioner,

                   33.08 litres of liquor from an E-rickshaw and from one another

                   building.

                                4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that

                   petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was

                   recovered from his conscious possession and is not the owner of

                   the E-rickshaw. It is further submitted that the house in question

                   is a joint family property, as such, it cannot be alleged with
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          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 in the year 2018, the

          concept of deemed possession and presumed offender has been

          done away with. It is next submitted that petitioner came to be

          implicated at the instance of the Chawkidar with whom he is on

          an inimical term. It is also submitted that it does not appear

          probable that the Chawkidar would have known who had

          concealed the liquor in the house.

                       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 appearing on behalf of the petitioner, let 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 Chiraiya P.S. Case

          No. 142 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
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                     Trial Court shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner

                     and if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of even one case,

                     it would be presumed that petitioner had concealed his

                     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 is a person with clean antecedent in that event the

                     provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.


                                                                          (Satyavrat Verma, J)

Kundan/-

U     T