Ratnesh Chaudhary @ Ratnesh Kumar Chaudhary @ Appu Chaudhary v. The State Of Bihar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.11976 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-10 Year-2026 Thana- SONEPUR District- Saran ====================================================== Ratnesh Chaudhary @ Ratnesh Kumar Chaudhary @ Appu Chaudhary S/O Bhageran Choudhary R/O Village- Ward No.-01, Pravejabad Gola Bazar, P.SSonepur, Distt.- Saran. ... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s :
Mr. Raushan Raj, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :
Mr. Md. Anzarul Haque Sahara, A.P.P.
====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 15-04-2026
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 one case under the Excise Act and allegation is of recovery of 103.63 litres of liquor from the hosue of Bablu Kumar and 78 litres of liqour from a hut near the canal.
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
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.11976 of 2026(2) dt.15-04-2026 2/3 and petitioner has no concern or relation with Bablu Kumar. It is further submitted that petitioner came to be implicated based on the confessional statement of Bablu Kumar in police custody which does not have any evidentiary value in the eye of law. It is next submitted that 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 also 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. 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 appearing on behalf of the petitioner, let the petitioner, above-named, in the event of his arrest or surrender within a period of six weeks from today, be released on provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.5,000/- (Rupees 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 Sonepur P.S. Case No. 10 of 2026, subject to the conditions as laid down under
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.11976 of 2026(2) dt.15-04-2026 3/3 Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C./482(2) of the B.N.S.S.
7. However, 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 one case, 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 one case in that event the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith. (Satyavrat Verma, J) Kundan/- U T