Who's the culprit?

Five suspects, one of whom is the guilty party, are being interrogated by the police. Who is the culprit if just three only of the following statements are correct?

Alf: ‘Dave did it.’
Ben: ‘It wasn’t me.’
Charlie: ‘Ernie is innocent.’
Dave: ‘Alf is lying when he accuses me.’
Ernie: ‘Ben is telling the truth.’

8 Answers

1
Manmay kumar Mohanty ·

i thnk Charlie

29
govind ·

I think Ernie is the culprit....

49
Subhomoy Bakshi ·

BEN and ERNIE are true or false together...

CASE 1

they are false

so, all of the rest has to be true

but in this case ALF and DAVE are contradicting and hence if one is true other has to be false.
so, this is not the case..

CASE 2
BEN and ERNIE both are true

this is sure

so one of the rest three is true.

IF ALF IS TRUE

CHARLIE IS FALSE....showing that ernie is the culprit...which contradicts ALF..so this is not the case

IF CHARLIE IS TRUE
ernie is nt culprit, neither is dave, nor ben...so its either ALF or CHARLIE. So we are not in any conclusion

IF DAVE IS TRUE
ERNIE IS NOT INNOCENT

forces me to think does this really have a solution???[3][3][3][3]

30
Ashish Kothari ·

It does! :P
And please, while giving your answers, do give a justification...

Hint: Try to arrange the different answers in a more organised way!

29
govind ·

only one person has to be a culprit here..

Case I ..Alf is culprit...

so only Alf is a lier..rest all speaking truth.....but condition given only 3ppl speak the truth...rejected

Case II ..Ben is culprit...

so Alf ,Ben and ernie are lier.... charlie and Dave are speaking truth..but condition given only 3ppl speak the truth...rejected

Case III Charlie is culprit...

so only dave is a lier..rest all speaking truth.....but condition given only 3ppl speak the truth.....rejected

Case IV Dave is culprit...
so only Dave is a lier..rest all speaking truth..but condition given only 3ppl speak the truth...rejected

Case V Ernie is culprit...
so Alf and Charlie are liers..rest all speaking truth..and this satisfy the condition given only 3ppl speak the truth...accepted

30
Ashish Kothari ·

Bingo!
Govind bhaiya is right! :-)

1
Kalyan Pilla ·

Another way...............

Exactly one of Alf and Dave is wrong....................1

Ben and Ernie are together right or wrong............2

Charlie is independent........................................3

Case 1
Ben and Ernie are wrong. The other three are right, This contradicts 1, so not possible

Case 2
Ben and Ernie are right. One of the other three is right

1 Charlie is right. So the other 2 are wrong, this contradicts 1, so not possible
2 Charlie is wrong. So one of the other two is right, and it is Dave...........as Ernie is the culprit, coz Charlie is wrong!!!

So, finally Ernie is the culprit

[339]

1
pranav ·

i feel the culprit is IIT MADRAS!

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