Patna High Court
Prashant Kumar @ Prashant Kumar RaiversusThe 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 antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Prashant Kumar, sought anticipatory bail fearing arrest in a case registered under Sections 274, 275 and 3(5) of the BNSS and Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, alleging recovery of 36.75 litres of liquor from a bush adjacent to his house. He contended that the liquor was not in his conscious possession, the location did not belong to him, and that the investigation was based on secret information without proper inquiry. The State opposed the bail, citing his antecedent of five prior cases, three of which were under the Excise Act. The Court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a bail bond of Rs.25,000 with two sureties and directed verification of his criminal antecedent. If more than five prior cases are found, the bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed forthwith.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner under Section 438 of the Cr.P.C. and Section 482(2) of the BNSS in view of the alleged offences and his criminal antecedent.
Legislation cited
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- liquor seizure
- criminal antecedent
- Section 438 CrPC
- BNSS
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.91268 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-162 Year-2025 Thana- VIDYAPATINAGAR District-
Samastipur
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Prashant Kumar @ Prashant Kumar Rai S/o Sri Ramprit Yadav @ Rampreet
Yadav @ Rampreet Ray R/v- Bangraha PS - Bidyapatinagar Dist - Samastipur
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Pranshu Singh, Advocate
Ms. Vaishnavi Singh, Advocate
Mr. Ritwik Thakur, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Jharkhandi Upadhyay, A.P.P.
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 12-01-2026 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 offences punishable under Sections 274, 275
and 3(5) of the BNSS as well as Section 30(a) of the Bihar
Prohibition and Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner has antecedent of five cases out of which three cases
are under the Excise Act and allegation is of recovery of 36.750
litres of liquor from a bush behind the husk house of the
petitioner.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.91268 of 2025(2) dt.12-01-2026
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recovered from his conscious possession and even the alleged
recovery is from a place which does not belong to the petitioner
but then is adjacent to his house and he came to be implicated
based on the secret information which is the easiest way to
implicate someone. It is further submitted that once an accused
is implicated in a case relating to excise the police start
implicating mechanically without holding a proper investigation
of the case either at the instance of the Chawkidar, local person,
secret information or confessional statement.
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 Vidyapatinagar P.S. Case No. 162 of 2025, subject to the
conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the
Cr.P.C./482(2) of the BNSS.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.91268 of 2025(2) dt.12-01-2026
3/3
7. It is made clear that thereafter the learned trial
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.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Kundan/-
U T
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