Court case(1977) 4 SCC 540

The appellant and several others were charged with criminal conspiracy to cheat a bank by opening accounts in false names, forging documents and obtaining money on the strength of them, together with substantive offences of cheating and forgery. The appellant contended that the prosecution really alleged a number of separate agreements between different persons for different transactions, that he had no part in many of them, and that a single charge of conspiracy against him could not be sustained.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. The offence of criminal conspiracy under s. 120A IPC is a distinct offence whose very ingredient is the agreement, concert or league. It is not necessary that all the conspirators know each and every detail of the conspiracy, as long as they are co-participators in the main object. There may be many devices and techniques adopted to achieve the common goal, and there may be a division of performances in the chain of actions, with one object to achieve the real end, of which every collaborator must be aware and in which each must be interested. Where the ultimate object is one, the different acts of different members are parts of a single conspiracy and not separate conspiracies.