Sameer finds ₹10,000 on the high road, not knowing to whom the rupees belong, he picks up the rupee. Has Sameer committed the offence of dishonest misappropriation of property under Section 403 of The Indian Penal Code,

According to Section 403 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, whoever dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own use any movable property, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or fine, or with both. A person who finds property not in the possession of any other person, and takes such property for the purpose of protecting it, or of restoring it to the owner does not take or misappropriates it dishonestly, and is not guilty of an offence. He is guilty of an offence above defined if he appropriates it to his own use, when he knows or has the means of discovering the owner, or before he has used, he has reasonable means to discover and give notice to the owner and has kept the property a reasonable time to enable the owner to claim it. What are reasonable means or what is a reasonable time in such a case, is a question of fact. It is not necessary that the finder should know who the owner of the property is or that any particular person is the owner of it; it is sufficient if, at the time of appropriating it, he does not believe it to be his own property, or in good faith believe that the real owner cannot be found. Further, according Illustration (a) of Explanation 2 of section 403 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 provides as under: A finds a rupee on the high road, not knowing to whom the rupee belongs, A picks up the rupee. Here A has not committed the offence defined in section 403. Since, Sameer found the amount of ₹10,000 lying on the road, he has not committed the offence of dishonest misappropriation of property under Section 403 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.