Change the following to Direct Speech by choosing the correct answer…

The correct answer is Option (1) → The judge said to the thief, "What were you doing with your hand in the gentleman's pocket?"

Indirect question to direct speech:

Change	Indirect	Direct	Why
Reporting verb	asked the thief	said to the thief, “ ”	“Asked the thief” becomes “said to the thief”, followed by a comma and inverted commas.
Word order	what he had been doing	What were you doing ...?	The question word stays: “What”. The question order returns (“were you”) with a question mark.
Pronoun change	he, his	you, your	The thief is now spoken to, so “he” becomes “you” and “his” becomes “your”.
Tense change	had been doing	were doing	The backshift is undone: “had been doing” becomes “were doing” (past continuous). The judge asks about what the thief was doing at the time he was caught.
Full sentence	The judge asked the thief what he had been doing with his hand in the gentleman’s pocket.	The judge said to the thief, “What were you doing with your hand in the gentleman’s pocket?”

The rest stays: "in the gentleman's pocket".

Example: She asked me where I had been going. → She said to me, “Where were you going?”

Why the Other Options are Incorrect?

Option 2: The judge said to the gentleman, "What was the thief doing in your pocket with his hand ?" — Incorrect. The judge was questioning the thief, not the gentleman. The listener is changed.

Option 3: The judge said to the thief, "What are you doing with your hand in the gentleman's pocket?" — Incorrect. "are doing" is the present continuous. "Had been doing" goes back to the past continuous "were doing", not to the present.

Option 4: The judge asked the thief, "Why are you putting your hand in the gentleman's pocket?" — Incorrect.

• "Why" changes the question word "what".
• "are you putting" changes both the verb and the tense.