A 21-year-old petty thief just had the worst luck in the world. Not only was she arrested after a failed attempt to steal a mobile phone, when she escaped the police lock-up the next day, she had all of two days of freedom before the cops caught up with her again.

On Thursday evening, the thief, Usha Kale tried to steal a mobile phone from a commuter boarding a crowded Virar-bound train from Dadar station. Convinced the jostling crowd would help hide the crime, Kale quietly unzipped the commuter’s purse and sneaked out her phone worth Rs 25,000.