Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the legal principle laid down by the Supreme Court in…

In Abhayanand Mishra v. State of Bihar (1961), the Supreme Court held that sending the application and false certificates to the university crossed the stage of preparation and amounted to an attempt to cheat and dishonestly induce delivery of property (an admission card being "property"). Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property is governed by Section 318(4) (formerly Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860), and attempting to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment where no express provision is made for the attempt is governed by Section 62 (formerly Section 511). Neither Section 318(4) alone (completed cheating) nor Section 62 alone (general attempt provision without the substantive offence) completely describes the offence of attempt to cheat.