Question:hard

A lady wanted to get a railway ticket but finding a crowd near the ticket window at the station, asked Raju, who was near the window, to get a ticket for her and handed him money for the same. Raju took the money and instead of getting the ticket, ran away with it. What offence has been committed by Raju?

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Ask how the money reached Raju's hands. She gave it to him herself, with an instruction attached, which rules out any taking without consent.
Updated On: Jul 17, 2026
  • No offence
  • Criminal breach of trust
  • Criminal misappropriation
  • Theft
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Property offences are told apart by one question asked first: how did the property arrive in the accused's hands? Only after answering that do you look at what he did with it. Sort the four options by that entry route. If he took it away from someone who did not agree, it is theft. If it drifted to him by chance and he then kept it, it is criminal misappropriation. If it was handed to him to be dealt with in a stated way and he betrayed that direction, it is criminal breach of trust.

  1. No offence: Not arguable. Raju walked off with money that was not his and that he had been given for a fixed purpose. The dishonest intention is written across the facts.
  2. Criminal breach of trust: This is the fit. The lady put the money into Raju's hands herself and told him what to do with it, buy her a ticket. Handing property over with a direction attached is entrustment, and dominion over the money passed to Raju. He then used it in violation of that very direction, which is the exact conduct the offence describes.
  3. Criminal misappropriation: This offence is built for property that reaches a person innocently or by accident, a wallet found on the road being the standard example. The defining feature is that nobody gave it to him with instructions. Raju's money came with instructions, so it belongs in the entrustment box, not this one.
  4. Theft: Theft turns on a dishonest taking out of a person's possession without consent. Here there was no taking, and there was full consent. The lady looked at Raju, chose him and gave him the money. What went wrong came later, when he broke his word, and a later dishonesty cannot convert a consensual handover into a taking.

So option (B) is the answer. The one-line test that separates the last two is this: entrustment plus betrayal gives criminal breach of trust, while chance possession plus keeping gives criminal misappropriation.

Let's summarize:

  • Theft requires taking property without the owner's consent, which did not happen here.
  • Criminal misappropriation covers property that came innocently or by accident, with no direction attached.
  • Criminal breach of trust covers property entrusted with a direction that the accused then dishonestly violates.
  • Money given to buy a ticket carries a direction with it, so the entrustment provision applies.

Raju was entrusted with the lady's money for a stated purpose and dishonestly kept it, so he committed criminal breach of trust and option (B) is correct.

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