After the tragic passing of his parents, Raj Kumar is also separated from his elder brother. He ends up hungry and penniless in Bombay, and is taken in by a pickpocket thief, Usmanbhai, who trains Raj to be a master at picking pockets and stealing. It is in this atmosphere that Raj grows up and calls himself Raju Tardeo, for this is the area allocated to him to carry on stealing. Raju comes to know that a wealthy woman named Kamini has run away from home, and a reward has been placed in all newspapers. He finds her, pretends to fall in love with her, steals her necklace, and takes her back home to her oppressive uncle, who wants her to get married to Ranjeet.