Vakil Mahto @ Bakil Mahto v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.45196 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-79 Year-2026 Thana- SACHIVALAYA District- Patna ====================================================== Vakil Mahto @ Bakil Mahto S/o Late Shankar Mahto R/o Jhopari Patti, Jagjivan Nagar Chitkohra Pul Ke Niche, P.S.- Sachiwalaya, District- Patna. ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

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

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Dhirendra Prasad Sinha For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr. Raj Kishor Singh ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 03-07-2026

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 Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner has antecedent of 7 cases, out of which, six cases are under the Excise Act and allegation is of recovery of 144.74 litres of liquor from house of six accused persons, out of which, 30.54 litres of liquor is alleged to have been recovered from the house of the petitionere. 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

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.45196 of 2026(2) dt.03-07-2026 2/3 was 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 and he came to be implicated based on confessional statement of Asha Devi in police custody which does not have any evidentiary value. It is also submitted that once an accused is implicated in a case relating to excise, the police starts implicating mechanically either through chowkidar, local person, confessional statement or secret information without holding a proper investigation.

4. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioner.

5. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner, 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.35,000/- (Rupees thirty 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 Sachwalaya P.S. Case No. 79 of 2026, subject to the conditions as laid down

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.45196 of 2026(2) dt.03-07-2026 3/3 under Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S.

6. It is made clear that the learned trial court thereafter shall verify the criminal antecedents of the petitioner and in the event if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of more than seven cases, in that event, it would be presumed that petitioner had concealed his antecedent before this court, as such, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed but if on verification it is found that petitioner has antecedent of seven cases, in that event the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.

(Satyavrat Verma, J) amit/- U T