Sanjay Chaudhary v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.5559 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-493 Year-2025 Thana- GRIYAK District- Nalanda ====================================================== Sanjay Chaudhary S/o- Late Mishri Chaudhary R/o - Kayampur, P.S - Giriyak, District - Nalanda ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

The State of Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Pankaj Kumar, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr. Rabindra Kumar, A.P.P.

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 03-02-2026

1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Rabindra Kumar, 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 three cases under the Excise Act and allegation is of recovery of 150 litres of liquor from the house of the petitioner and Sudhir Chaudhary, 20 litres of liquor from the house of Kalendra Chaudhary and 30 litres of liquor from the house of Bijendra Chaudhary.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his conscious possession. It is further submitted that the house in question is a joint family property, as such, it

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.5559 of 2026(2) dt.03-02-2026 2/3 cannot be alleged with 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 further submitted that petitioner came to be implicated based 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.

5. Mr. Rabindra Kumar, 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.15,000/- (Rupees Fifteen 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

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.5559 of 2026(2) dt.03-02-2026 3/3 Giriyak P.S. Case No. 493 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 court shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of more than three 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 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.7,500/- with the High Court Legal Services Committee, Patna within a period of two weeks from today.

(Satyavrat Verma, J) Kundan/- U T