Patna High Court
Rajeshwar PandeyversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The application for anticipatory bail is allowed, with provisional bail granted subject to conditions.
Summary
The petitioner, Rajeshwar Pandey, applied for anticipatory bail fearing arrest in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, where liquor was allegedly recovered from a pickup vehicle. He argued that he was not arrested on the spot, did not possess the seized vehicle, and was implicated by a chowkidar without proper investigation. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a bail bond of Rs.15,000 with two sureties and compliance with Section 482(2) of the CrPC. The Court directed the trial court to verify the petitioner’s criminal antecedents and stipulated that if more than three prior cases are found, the bail would be cancelled, otherwise confirmed. Additionally, the petitioner was ordered to deposit Rs.5,000 with the High Court Legal Services Committee.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner under Section 482(2) of the CrPC in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act.
- Whether the petitioner’s prior criminal antecedents affect the grant of anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- Section 30
- provisional bail
- criminal antecedent
- Section 482
- high court
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.4902 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-327 Year-2025 Thana- PIPRAKOTHI District- East Champaran
======================================================
Rajeshwar Pandey S/O Late Amar Pandey Resident of village -
Mahammada,P.S- Piprakothi,Dist- East Champaran
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Abhishek Kumar, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Raj Kishor Singh, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 02-02-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned
APP for the State.
2. Petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case registered
for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) of Bihar
Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner has antecedents of three cases under the Excise Act
and allegation is of recovery of 519.84 litres of liquor from a
pickup vehicle. It is next submitted that petitioner was not
arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his
conscious possession and is not the owner of the seized vehicle
and came to be implicated at the instance of Chowkidar but then
it is submitted that once an accused is implicated in a case
relating to excise, the police starts implicating mechanically
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.4902 of 2026(2) dt.02-02-2026
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either at the instance of Chowkidar, local person, confessional
statement or secret information without holding a proper
investigation.
4. Learned A.P.P. opposes the anticipatory bail
application.
5. 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-bond in the
sum of Rs.15,000/- (Rupees Fifteen Thousand) with two sureties
of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Special
Judge, Excise Court No.1, East Champaran, Motihari in
connection with Piprakothi P.S. Case No.327 of 2025, subject to
the conditions laid down under Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S.
6. The application stands allowed.
7. It is made clear that the learned trial Court after
accepting the provisional bail bond of the petitioner shall verify
the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and in the event, if it is
found that petitioner has antecedent of more than three cases,
then it would be presumed that petitioner for the purposes of
obtaining anticipatory bail had concealed his antecedent before
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.4902 of 2026(2) dt.02-02-2026
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this Court, in that event, the present provisional anticipatory bail
order shall not be confirmed, but if on verification, it is found
that petitioner has antecedent of only three cases, in that event,
the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed
forthwith.
8. At this stage, learned counsel for the petitioner,
based on instruction, submits that petitioner undertakes to
deposit an amount of Rs.5,000/- with High Court Legal Services
Committee, Patna within a period of two weeks from today.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sanjay/-
U T
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