Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter IV: Of Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt · Of criminal conspiracy
Section 61: Criminal conspiracy
In plain words
A criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to do an illegal act, or a legal act by illegal means. An agreement to commit an offence is enough by itself. For other agreements, someone must also do an act to carry it out.
- Conspiring to commit an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or rigorous imprisonment of two years or more is punished as if the person had abetted that offence, unless the Sanhita says otherwise.
- Any other criminal conspiracy is punishable with up to six months in prison, or a fine, or both.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓
Official text
(1) When two or more persons agree with the common object to do, or cause to be done—
(a) an illegal act; or
(b) an act which is not illegal by illegal means, such an agreement is designated a criminal conspiracy:
Provided that no agreement except an agreement to commit an offence shall amount to a criminal conspiracy unless some act besides the agreement is done by one or more parties to such agreement in pursuance thereof.
Explanation.—It is immaterial whether the illegal act is the ultimate object of such agreement, or is merely incidental to that object.
(2) Whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy,—
(a) to commit an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years or upwards, shall, where no express provision is made in this Sanhita for the punishment of such a conspiracy, be punished in the same manner as if he had abetted such offence;
(b) other than a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable as aforesaid shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding six months, or with fine or with both.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 25 August 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Understanding this section
Section 61 combines sections 120A and 120B of the IPC: the definition of criminal conspiracy and its punishment. The agreement itself is the crime. Where the agreement is to commit an offence, nothing more is needed. One small drafting change: the BNS says the persons agree with the common object to do the illegal act.
Ingredients
- Two or more persons.
- An agreement with the common object to do an illegal act, or a legal act by illegal means.
- If the object is not an offence, some act besides the agreement done in pursuance of it.
The agreement is the gist
Once the agreement to commit an offence is made, the conspiracy is complete, even if no step is taken. The proviso requires an overt act only where the object is an illegal act that is not an offence.
Proof
Agreements are secret, so courts infer them from conduct, communications and acts that only make sense as part of a shared plan. Association or suspicion alone is not enough.
Punishment
Sub-section (2): a conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment or rigorous imprisonment of two years or more is punished as abetment of that offence, unless the Sanhita provides otherwise; other conspiracies, up to six months, or fine, or both.
Key Supreme Court rulings
Somasundaram @ Somu v. The State 2020 INSC 412
Decided under section 120A of the IPC. "The gist of the offence of criminal conspiracy is in the agreement to do an illegal act or an act which is not illegal by illegal means."
Mohammad Irfan v. State of Karnataka 2022 INSC 664
"Entering into an agreement by two or more persons to do an illegal act or legal act by illegal means is the very quintessence of the conspiracy."
Common mistakes
- Requiring an overt act for a conspiracy to commit an offence.
- Inferring conspiracy from mere association.
Read with: Section 45 BNS, Section 3 BNS, Section 120A IPC
Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 61
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Kasireddy Upender Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors.
Whether the arrest of the appellant’s son was per se illegal for want of supply of appropriate and meaningful grounds of arrest, as alleged.
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P Krishna Mohan Reddy v. The State of Andhra Pradesh
Whether the statement of an accused u/s.161, Cr.P.C implicating co-accused can be looked into qua such co-accused at the stage of anticipatory bail or regular bail; whether the High Court exercised its discretion in a…
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Devinder Kumar Bansal v. The State of Punjab
Issue arose whether the High Court justified in denying anticipatory bail to the petitioner in connection with FIR registered against the petitioner for the offence punishable u/s.7 of the 1988 Act and s.61(2) of the…