IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA     CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

     CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.477 OF  2009

                  [Arising out of SLP(Crl.)No.184 of 2009]

   LALAN PRASAD         ...   Appellant(s)

                       Versus    

STATE OF BIHAR   ...  Respondent(s)   

O R D E R  

Delay condoned.

Leave granted. State of Bihar has appeared pursuant to notice.

By  the  order  dated  08/08/2008  passed  by  the  Patna  High  Court  in  

Crl.Misc.No.32796 of 2008, impugned in the present appeal, the appellant's prayer for  

grant of bail has been rejected, with   liberty to renew his prayer before the court  

below after completing one year in jail custody.

Learned  counsel  appearing  for  the  appellant,  however,  submits  that  

after the impugned order had been passed, one Surender Prasad and one Mukesh  

Prasad had been released on bail on 13/8/2008 and 21/08/2008 respectively, in respect  

of the same allegations.

In that view of the matter, having considered the submissions made, we  

modify  the  order  of  the  High  Court  and  since  the  appellant  has  already  been in

custody for about ten months, we delete the bar imposed by the High Court in its  

order dated 08/08/2008 and make it clear that the appellant will be at liberty to move  

the High Court for grant of bail at any time hereafter.

The appeal is disposed of with the aforesaid modification.

                ...................J.

                              (ALTAMAS KABIR)   

            ...................J.                         (CYRIAC JOSEPH)  

New Delhi, March 16, 2009.