Offences Against Property
(1) Someone entrusted with property (or dominion over it), who dishonestly misappropriates/converts it, or uses/disposes of it violating a legal duty or contract about that trust (or wilfully allows another to do so), commits "criminal breach of trust" - explicitly including employers who deduct but don't remit employee Provident Fund/ESI contributions. (2)-(5) Punished with up to 5 years, fine, or both (base); up to 7 years plus fine (carriers/wharfingers/warehouse-keepers, or clerks/servants); or life imprisonment/up to 10 years plus fine (public servants, or bankers/merchants/factors/brokers/attorneys/agents acting in that professional capacity).
This is the crucial distinguishing offence from theft - the property comes into the offender's hands LAWFULLY through a position of entrusted responsibility, and the crime is betraying that trust by misusing it - with the harshest penalty reserved specifically for professionals (bankers, agents, brokers) and public servants who abuse fiduciary positions.
This is a key provision for prosecuting financial-advisor and agent-based investment fraud: a broker, agent, or banker who is legally entrusted with a client's money or property, and then dishonestly misuses it for their own benefit, faces this section's most severe penalty tier - up to life imprisonment - specifically because professional financial trust roles carry heightened liability.