Pankaj Kumar v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.24127 of 2020 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-224 Year-2020 Thana- UDWANTNAGAR District- Bhojpur ====================================================== PANKAJ KUMAR S/o Budhan Singh R/o Village- Dumariya (Lasari), P.S.- Agiaon Garhani, District- Bhojpur.

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

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

For the Petitioner/s :

Mrs.Rina Sinha, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :

Smt. Veena Kumari Jaiswal, A.P.P.

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR SINHA ORAL ORDER 18-09-2020 Heard Mrs. Rina Sinha, learned counsel for the petitioner and Smt. Veena Kumari Jaiswal, learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the State through video conferencing.

Petitioner seeks regular bail in connection with Udwantnagar P.S. Case No. 224 of 2020 registered for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2018.

The allegation against the petitioner as per the First Information Report is that the Police on the basis of secret information intercepted one red colour pickup van and a white colour Scorpio near Jaitpur more and recovered 608 litres of foreign liquor from pick up van and 45 litres of

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.24127 of 2020(2) dt.18-09-2020 2/3 foreign liquor from Scorpio vehicle. It has further been alleged that on seeing the Police party four persons tried to flee away from the vehicles in question, but on chase, they were apprehended and disclosed their names as Rahul Kumar, Pankaj Kumar (petitioner), Sanjay Kumar and Shiv Kumar Ram.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has got no criminal antecedent and he has falsely been implicated in this case merely on the basis of fact that he was found sitting in the pick up van. Learned counsel for the petitioner on instruction submits that the petitioner is not the owner of the pick up van from which the illicit liquor has been recovered. Learned counsel also submits that the petitioner was sitting in the pick up van as a passenger and referring to paragraph-8 of this petition she submits that the illicit liquor was being carried by the driver of the pick up van, namely, Rahul Kumar. The petitioner is in custody since 18.06.2020.

Having regard to the submissions made by the parties and taking into consideration the materials on record and also the fact that the petitioner has got no criminal

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.24127 of 2020(2) dt.18-09-2020 3/3 antecedent and he is in custody since 18.06.2020, I am inclined to grant regular bail to the petitioner. Accordingly, let the petitioner, above named, be released on regular bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.10,000/- (Ten thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned 4th Additional Sessions Judge cum Special Judge, Excise Bhojpur, Ara, in connection with Udwantnagar P.S. Case No. 224 of 2020. It is made clear that at the time of furnishing bail bonds all the parties shall follow the guidelines regarding lockdown and social distancing.

(Anil Kumar Sinha, J) S.Ali/- U T