Krishnand Rai Vs State of Bihar (Patna High Court)
The Patna High Court heard two anticipatory bail applications arising from the same police case registered under Section 30(a) of the Excise Act, involving alleged recovery of 1035.780 litres of liquor from three different vehicles. In both matters, the petitioners sought anticipatory bail on the ground that they were not arrested at the spot, no liquor was recovered from their conscious possession, they were not owners of the seized vehicles, and their implication was based solely on the confessional statement of a co-accused recorded in police custody, which was argued to have no evidentiary value.
In the first application, the petitioner claimed to have clean antecedents. The Court directed that in the event of arrest or surrender within six weeks, the petitioner be released on provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of ₹500 with two sureties, subject to statutory conditions. The trial court was directed to verify the petitioner’s criminal antecedents, with a clear stipulation that if even one prior case was found, the provisional bail would not be confirmed; however, if the petitioner was found to have clean antecedents, the bail was to be confirmed forthwith.
In the second application, the petitioner admittedly had antecedents of four cases. The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of ₹20,000 with two sureties, again subject to statutory conditions. The trial court was directed to verify the antecedents, with confirmation of bail contingent upon the finding that the petitioner had no more than four prior cases. Both applications were allowed with these conditional directions.
