Whoever dishonestly or fraudulently prevents any debt or demand due to himself or to any other person from being made available according to law for payment of his debts or the debts of such other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE

Punishment—Imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or both—Non-cogniz­able—Bailable—Triable by any Magistrate—Compoundable by the credi­tors who are affected thereby with the permission of the court.

Whoever dishonestly or fraudulently removes, conceals or delivers to any person, or transfer or causes to be transferred to any person, without adequate consideration, any property, intending thereby to prevent, or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby prevent, the distribution of that property according to law among his creditors or the creditors of any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE

Punishment—Imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or both—Non-cogniz­able—Bailable—Triable by any Magistrate—Compoundable by the credi­tor who are affected thereby with the permission of the court.

Whoever cheats and thereby dishonestly induces the person deceived any property to any person, or to make, alter or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable security, or anything which is signed or sealed, and which is capable of being converted into a valuable security, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE

Punishment—Imprisonment for 7 years and fine—Cognizable—Non-bail­able—Triable by Magistrate of the first class—Compoundable by the person cheated with the permission of the court.

Comments

Ingredients

(i) Even if the allegation made in the complaint are accepted to be true and correct, the appellants cannot be said to have committed any offence of cheating. Since the appellants were not in picture at all the time when the complainant alleges to have spent money in improving the bottling plant, neither any guilty intention can be attributed to them nor there can possibly be any intention on their part to deceive complainant; Ajay Mitra v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 2003 SC 1069.

(ii) The offence of cheating is established when the accused thereby induced that person to deliver any property or to do or to omit to do something which he would otherwise not have done or omitted; Mahadeo Prasad v. State of Bengal, AIR 1954 SC 724.

Whoever cheats by personation shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE

Punishment—Imprisonment for 3 years, or fine, or both—Cognizable—Bailable—Triable by any Magistrate—Compoundable by the person cheated with the permission of the court.

Whoever cheats with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause wrongful loss to a person whose interest in the transaction to which the cheating relates, he was bound, either by law, or by a legal contract, to protect, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE

Punishment—Imprisonment for 3 years, or fine, or both—Non-cogniz­able—Bailable—Triable by any Magistrate—Compoundable by the person cheated with the permission of the court.