Patna High Court
Santosh SahaniversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court allowed the anticipatory bail application, granting provisional anticipatory bail subject to conditions and verification of antecedents.
Summary
The petitioner, Santosh Sahani, feared arrest in a case registered under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022, alleging recovery of 94 litres of liquor from a boat. He contended that he was not in possession of the liquor, was not the owner of the boat, and had been implicated solely on the basis of secret information. The petitioner, who has antecedents in two prior cases, applied for anticipatory bail. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, Exclusive Special Excise Court‑II, Katihar, was directed to release him on provisional anticipatory bail upon furnishing bail bonds and sureties, subject to verification of his criminal antecedents. The court further stipulated that if more than two antecedent cases are discovered, the provisional bail would not be confirmed, whereas confirmation would follow if only two antecedents are found. The application for anticipatory bail was allowed.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail under Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S. in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022
- Whether the petitioner’s alleged involvement, based solely on secret information and lack of possession, warrants denial of bail
Legislation cited
- B.N.S.S. — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- Section 30
- secret information
- criminal antecedent
- provisional bail
- Bihar
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.56890 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-550 Year-2025 Thana- SAHAYAK NAGAR District- Katihar
======================================================
Santosh Sahani S/o- Vishwanath Sahani Resident of Village- Mohalla
-Ranighat Gaushala PS-Sahayak District- Katihar
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Bimal Kumar, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Ms. Madhuri Lata, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
3 05-01-2026 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, 2022.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner has antecedents of two cases and allegation is of
recovery of 94 litres of liquor from a boat. It is next submitted
that petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing
was recovered from his conscious possession and he is not the
owner of the boat and he came to be implicated based on 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 starts implicating mechanically
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either at the instance of Chowkidar, local person, confessional
statement or secret information.
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-bonds in the
sum of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) with two sureties of
the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Additional
Sessions Judge, Exclusive Special Excise Court-II, Katihar in
connection with Katihar Town (Sahayak) P.S. Case No.550 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 bonds 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 two cases,
then it would be presumed that petitioner for the purposes of
obtaining anticipatory bail had concealed his antecedent before
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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 antecedents of only two cases, in that event,
the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed
forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sanjay/-
U T
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