Present: Drieberg J,

PERIES v. ANDERSON.

591-P. C. Chilaw, 1,928.

    Arrest-Retention of stolen property-Cognizable offence-Criminal Procedure Code, s. 25.

A salesman in a boutique to whom a 2 5-cent piece was given for the purchase of cigarettes by a chauffeur, employed by the appellant, denied the receipt of the money. Immediately after, on being questioned by the appellant, the salesman pointed to a 25-cent coin as it lay on the floor of the boutique: This explanation was not accepted by the appellant, who found the 25-cent piece, which he had given his chauffeur, in a drawer. The appellant used some degree of force on the salesman in taking him in the Police Station.

Held that, under the circumstances, the salesman was not guilty of dishonest retention of stolen property and that the action of the appellant in removing him to the Police Station was unlawful.

Held also, that a person who commits dishonest misappropriation of property cannot be convicted of dishonest retention of the property misappropriated, where there was no appreciable interval of time between the commission of the dishonest misappropriation and the manifestation