JUDGMENT 1. The grounds on which this rule has been obtained are :-- (1) That the accused did not make one attempt to cheat but several, and that charges for as many attempts as there were villagers from whom he sought, remuneration should have been drawn up. (2) That, the statement made by him before Mr. Lister, the Settlement Officer, was inadmissible in evidence--and (3) That two charges should have been drawn up against the accused for the two attempts to cheat alleged to have been made by him on the 11th and 12th January last. We are of opinion that there is no force in the first and second of these pleas. 2. The accused asked the villagers for 8 annas and 4 annas a head for signing their purchase. He did not ask each individual villager, but spoke to them in a body. Hence, we think he was rightly charged in the charge for each attempt to get money from them. 3. The only passage in the statement made by the accused to Mr. Lister which has been referred to in the Magistrate's judgment is that in which the accused admits that he took from the villagers of another village sums which they volunteered to pay him. We do not consider that this statement is inadmissible. But there is plenty of other evidence in this case and probably at the retrial which we shall presently order it may not be necessary to make use of this statement. 4. We consider that the third ground must prevail. The accused was charged in one charge with two attempts to cheat made on the 11th and 12th January. There should have been two charges. Under the ruling of the Privy Council in Subramaniya Ayyar's case (1), this would seem to be an illegality which vitiates the trial and cannot be cured by sec. 537, Cr.P.C. The Deputy Legal Remembrancer relies on the case of Emperor v. Sherufalli Alibhoy (2). But this does not relate to a defect under sec. 233, Cr.P.C., as has been committed in this case and which according to the ruling of the Privy Council above referred to vitiates the trial. We accordingly set aside the conviction and sentence and direct that the accused be retried according to law.