Patna High Court
Chunnu Paswan @ Chunnu KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner subject to bond, sureties, and verification of his criminal antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Chunnu Paswan, sought anticipatory bail after learning that he might be arrested in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022, alleging recovery of 113.70 litres of liquor from a cattle shed belonging to another person. He argued that he had no possession of the liquor, no connection to the premises, and was implicated solely on secret information, also noting his five prior excise cases. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a Rs.25,000 bond with two sureties, compliance with Section 438(2) Cr.P.C. and Section 482(2) of the BNSS, and a verification of his criminal antecedent within six weeks. The order further required the petitioner to deposit Rs.5,000 with the High Court Legal Services Committee. If the trial court finds more than five prior cases, the bail will not be confirmed; otherwise it will be confirmed.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Cr.P.C. in the pending excise case
- Whether the petitioner’s prior criminal antecedent affects the grant of anticipatory bail
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure — s. 438(2), 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- liquor seizure
- secret information
- criminal antecedent
- Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
- CrPC Section 438
- CrPC Section 482
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.4932 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-763 Year-2025 Thana- SITAMARHI District- Sitamarhi
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Chunnu Paswan @ Chunnu Kumar S/O Jhappsi Paswan R/O Vill.-
Bariyarpur, ward no.37, P.S- Sitamarhi, Dist- Sitamarhi
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Zaki Haider, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Ms. Indu Kumari Srivastava, A.P.P.
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 02-02-2026 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 has antecedent of five cases under the Excise Act and
allegation is of recovery of 113.70 litres of liquor from the cattle
shed of Arvind Paswan.
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 even the alleged
recovery is from a place which does not belong to the petitioner
and petitioner has no concern or relation with Arvind Paswan. It
is further submitted that petitioner came to be implicated based
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.4932 of 2026(2) dt.02-02-2026
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on the secret information which is the easiest way to implicate
someone. It is next 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. It is also submitted
that petitioner in similar manner also came to be implicated
earlier.
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 for the petitioner, let the petitioner above-named, in the
event of his arrest or surrender before the learned trial court
within a period of six weeks from today, be released on
provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of
Rs.25,000/- (Rupees Twenty-five Thousand) 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 Sitamarhi P.S. Case No. 763 of 2025, subject to the
conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the
Cr.P.C./482(2) of the BNSS.
7. It is made clear that thereafter the learned trial
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court shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and if
it is found that petitioner has antecedent of more than five cases,
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 has antecedent of only five 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 the High Court Legal
Services Committee, Patna within a period of two weeks from
today.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Kundan/-
U T
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