Patna High Court - Orders
Baidhnath Mahto @ Baijnath Mahto vs The State Of Bihar on 18 October, 2023
Author: Purnendu Singh
Bench: Purnendu Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.65949 of 2023
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-749 Year-2023 Thana- Excise P.S. District- Muzaffarpur
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Baidhnath Mahto @ Baijnath Mahto Son Of Ramsevak Mahto Resident Of
Village - Akopur, P.S. - Cheriya Bariyarpur, District - Begusarai.
... ... Petitioner/S
Versus
The State Of Bihar.
... ... Opposite Party/s
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Hari Kishore Thakur, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Ajit Kumar, APP
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PURNENDU SINGH
ORAL ORDER
2 18-10-2023Heard Mr. Hari Kishore Thakur, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. Ajit Kumar, learned APP for the State.
2. The petitioner seek pre-arrest bail in connection with Excise Case No.749 of 2023 dated 11.04.2023 registered for the offence punishable under Sections 30(a) and 32(3) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2018/22.
3. As per the allegation in the FIR total 207.360 liters of illicit liquor has been recovered from a Bolero vehicle bearing Registration No. BR 09 PA 3371, which was being used for delivering certain GST goods.
4. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that petitioner is innocent and he has falsely been implicated in the present case. The illicit liquor has not Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.65949 of 2023(2) dt.18-10-2023 2/5 been recovered from the possession of the petitioner. The Bolero vehicle bearing Registration No. BR 09 PA 3371, which was being used for delivering certain GST goods, had one cartoon box being R/C APPARELS printed on it contained illicit liquor in concealed manner and bills etc. were issued by a consignor and the delivery was required to be made to the consignee namely Anil Kumar Gupta, located in Samastipur, who has also been made accused in the present case besides the petitioner and other accused persons. Petitioner is the owner of the Bolero vehicle bearing Registration No. BR 09 PA 3371 and the illicit liquor was transported in garb of certain GST goods by a logistics service company namely Delhivery Limited from Gurugram, Haryana to Samastipur, Bihar. The driver of the vehicle having found that the goods, which he had to transport, were GST goods, and being unaware of the concealed illicit liquor in the said cartoon box, proceeded to transport the consignment to deliver it to the said accused Anil Kumar Gupta, in which two sons of the petitioner had kept 207.360 liters of illicit liquor. A raid was conducted at the place of the said accused Anil Kumar Gupta, from where total 207.360 liters of illicit liquor was recovered. No case has been registered against the said R/C APPARELS, in whose cartoon huge quantity of Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.65949 of 2023(2) dt.18-10-2023 3/5 illicit liquor has been smuggled into the State of Bihar. It is not clear from the FIR that in whose name the said R/C APPARELS has been registered or the accused Anil Kumar Gupta is running a fake company in the name of R/C APPARELS. In this background, petitioner being innocent and unaware of illegal supply of liquor and having clean antecedent, seeks to be released on bail.
5. Mr. Ajit Kumar, learned APP appearing on behalf of the State vehemently opposed the prayer for grant of pre- arrest bail and submits that from the perusal of allegation made in the FIR, as well as, seizure list the mechanism adopted by the accused person in smuggling of liquor is not unknown as on day. It is tragic that in the newspapers almost everyday it comes that after consumption of illicit liquor, some innocent citizens died. The liquor mafia heads are running as on date a parallel economy with the help officers of the State Government Departments, inspite of liquor prohibition in the State.
6. Considering the nature of allegation made against the petitioner in the FIR, who is owner of the Bolero vehicle bearing Registration No. BR 09 PA 3371, from whose vehicle in garb of certain GST goods, which was loaded on behalf of the logistics company namely Delhivery Limited, the illicit liquor Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.65949 of 2023(2) dt.18-10-2023 4/5 was being smuggled. The petitioner being owner of the said Bolero vehicle was not aware of the consignment but could not carry the required documents in support of e-Way Bill in accordance with the provision of GST Act, the petitioner can not be held to be involved in liquor trade, which reqires thorough Investigation by the Investigating Agency, including the Prohibition and Excise Department. The Deputy Chief Secretary, Prohibition Excise and Registration Department, is directed to file a counter-affidavit giving the reasons as to why he has not been able to implement liquor prohibition in the State of Bihar and the methods to stop mechanisms, which have been adopted by the accused persons, particularly by the accused Anil Kumar Gupta, who has been found to be smuggling huge consignments of liquor in garb of certain GST goods, on the basis of valid e-Way Bill.
7. In the meantime, petitioner is directed to be released on provisional bail, in the event of his arrest or surrender before the Court below within a period of four weeks from today, on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Exclusive Special Judge Excise, Court No.II, Muzaffarpur in connection with Excise Case Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.65949 of 2023(2) dt.18-10-2023 5/5 No.749 of 2023 dated 11.04.2023, subject to the condition as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C.
8. The Court below is directed to verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner, as stated in paragraph no. 3 of the bail application. If any other case is pending against the petitioner, as what has been stated in paragraph no. 3, this order will loose its force automatically.
9. Renotify the present case after 6 weeks, i.e. on 30.11.2023, among top ten cases.
(Purnendu Singh, J.) Ashishsingh/-
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