Question: One evening Shreya trying to pay the pizza delivery was surprised to find a few five hundred rupee notes missing from her purse that she was sure were there earlier. She wants to ascertain if someone has stolen the money. On reflecting, the following facts crossed her mind:
In the last one year, Shreya had noticed cash missing on three occasions.
Shreya’s husband also shared that a few notes were missing from his wallet, though he was not sure if they were stolen.
Her eldest son had been pestering Shreya for more pocket money for the last three weeks; in the last few days, he had stopped doing so.
In the last one year, Vimla had received six mails from her family asking for money.
Her eldest son’s expenditure had gone up in the last few days.
Which of the following combinations of the above statements would DECREASE the likelihood that Vimla has stolen the money?
Since options 3 and 5 shift the suspicion to her eldest son from Vimla, they make the probability of stealing by son the highest, which would imply that the probability that Vimla has stolen it is the lowest. Hence, the correct answer is option 5.