Krishna Sah @ Butan Sah @ Krishna Kumar Sah v. The State Of Bihar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.12051 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-177 Year-2025 Thana- SIRISIYA District- West Champaran ====================================================== Krishna Sah @ Butan Sah @ Krishna Kumar Sah Son of Sri Ramnath Sah @ Bapsu Sah @ Basu Sah Resident of Village - Garabhua, Lala Tola, P.S. - Sirisiya, Dist. - West Champaran.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s :
Mr. Sharad Kumar Verma, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :
Ms. Sucheta Yadav, APP ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 26-02-2026 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 Act, 2016.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner has antecedents of four cases, out of which two cases are under the Excise Act and allegation is of recovery of 25 litres of liquor from house of the petitioner. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his conscious possession and the house in question is a joint family property, as such, it cannot be alleged with certainty that it was petitioner who had kept the liquor in
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.12051 of 2026(2) dt.26-02-2026 2/3 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 and he came to be implicated at the instance of Chowkidar with whom he is on an inimical term. It is also submitted that if Chowkidar was aware of the involvement of the petitioner in the occurrence then why he did not inform the police prior to institution of the instant FIR, which casts an aspersion on the case of the prosecution. It is next submitted that once an accused is implicated in a case relating to excise, the police starts implicating mechanically either at the instance of Chowkidar, local person, confessional statement or secret information without holding a proper investigation.
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-bond in the sum of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand) with two
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.12051 of 2026(2) dt.26-02-2026 3/3 sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Special Judge, Excise Court-I, West Champaran at Bettiah in connection with Sirisiya P.S. Case No.177 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 bond 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 four cases, then it would be presumed that petitioner for the purposes of obtaining anticipatory bail had concealed his antecedent before 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 antecedent of only four cases, in that event, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J) Sanjay/- U T