Definition (the Code's scheme, by principle): theft is the dishonest taking of movable property out of another's possession without that person's consent. The elements, one by one:
1. Movable property: immovables (land) cannot be stolen as theft — their illegal taking runs through encroachment/land law (Property Law, Semester 3); but things attached to land become movable when severed (the tree cut to be carried away);
2. Property of another / in another's possession: the possession-protection point — the owner who takes back his own property from a bailee may still commit theft against the possessor's better right in defined analyses (the honest-claim-of-right negation), and corporeal things belonging to anyone (wild animals, abandoned property's finder-regimes) frame the boundaries;
3. Dishonest intention (mens rea) at the taking: the intention to cause wrongful gain to oneself or wrongful loss to another — the taking-to-use-and-return cases (the servant taking the cycle at night, returning at dawn) testing the boundary: dishonesty assessed at the taking moment; the bona fide mistake of fact (taking one's own-looking umbrella) negates it;
4. Taking/moving (actus): the slightest movement suffices once taking begins (the thief who lifts the wallet has "moved" it — the removal's commencement, not completion, is the actus);
5. Without consent: express or implied consent defeats theft (the shopkeeper's display is an implied invitation, not consent to keep).
Aggravated forms (the Code's grading, by principle): theft in a dwelling house (the home's higher security); theft by a clerk/servant of property entrusted by the employer; theft after preparation to cause death or hurt (the armed thief); theft of means of transport/vehicles; repeat offending; value-based grading (the punishment scaling with the property's worth, plus compensation to the victim — the Code's restitutionary pairing of punishment with repayment).
Distinctions (the examination's banker table):
• Theft vs. criminal misappropriation: taking without consent vs. acquiring lawfully then dishonestly converting (finding the wallet and keeping it);
• Theft vs. criminal breach of trust: both end in dishonest conversion, but breach of trust begins with entrustment (the cashier, the agent, the guthiyar) — the fiduciary colour;
• Theft vs. extortion: taking without consent vs. consent obtained by fear (the threat delivering the property);
• Theft vs. looting/robbery: below — force's presence;
• Theft vs. cheating: taking without any consent vs. consent induced by deception — the victim's hand delivers in cheating.