This article relies on structural arguments derived from the criminal breach of trust provisions of the Penal Code, comparisons with the Larceny Acts and common law offences such as misconduct in public office and conspiracy to defraud, as well as the principle of equitable construction, to reach conclusions on the meaning of two important modalities of entrustment. These are entrustment "in such capacity [as servant]" and "in his capacity of a public servant" which are the bases for greater punishment under section 408 and section 409 respectively. The conclusions on the public servant modality are at variance with judicial interpretations of the Indian courts.