Ranjan Gupta @ Ranjan Kumar Gupta v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.14399 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-276 Year-2025 Thana- MANJHI District- Saran ====================================================== Ranjan Gupta @ Ranjan Kumar Gupta Son of Suresh Prasad R/o - Manjhi Gadh Bazar, P.S - Manjhi, District - Saran ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

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

For the Petitioner/s :

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

Mr. Navin Kumar Pandey, APP ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 13-03-2026 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.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of recovery of 17.28 litres of liquor from a motorcycle. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his conscious possession and is not the owner of the seized vehicle and came to be implicated based on confessional statement of Pradeep Kumar in police custody which does not have any evidentiary value. It is also submitted that after amendment in the Excise Act in the year 2018, the

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.14399 of 2026(2) dt.13-03-2026 2/3 concept of deemed possession and presumed offender has been done away with.

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.500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Court of 2nd Exclusive Special Excise Judge, Saran at Chapra in connection with Manjhi P.S. Case No.276 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 even one case, 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

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.14399 of 2026(2) dt.13-03-2026 3/3 not be confirmed, but if on verification, it is found that petitioner is a person with clean antecedent, in that event, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith. (Satyavrat Verma, J) Sanjay/- U T