The computer expert would gatecrash into parties and make a quick exit with valuables

She was a college graduate and a computer professional working with a TV channel; in her spare time she did a bit of bag-lifting for some extra cash.

Meena Sharma landed in the police net on Tuesday while trying to escape with three ladies handbags from the India Habitat Centre (IHC) in Lodhi Colony, where a birthday party was on.

With the arrest, the Lodhi Colony police claim to have solved four cases of bag-lifting reported from the IHC in the last two months. They have recovered three stolen handbags containing credit/debit cards, cash and cell phones from Meena.

Giving details of the case, DCP (south) HGS Dhaliwal said that Meena, a mother of two residing in Lajpat Nagar, was arrested after a security guard at the IHC became suspicious seeing a woman walking out with three ladies handbags.

According to the police, there was a little commotion at Eatopia during the birthday party of a boy, Parth Makhija, as a few handbags were found missing.

"A police team and the security staff deployed at the IHC were alerted and all the exit gates were covered. A woman, carrying three handbags, was found confidently boarding an autorickshaw and a security guard alerted us. The woman was stopped and asked the reason for carrying three handbags. She could not give a satisfactory reply.

In the meantime, owners of these bags reached there and identified them which were later taken into possession by the police," Dhaliwal said, adding that the scrutiny of CCTV footage from the IHC confirmed that the woman had come empty-handed but was leaving with three handbags.

According to a senior police official, in the past few months, there had been a few instances of handbag thefts from various party halls in the IHC. "In a few cases, empty handbags were found in washrooms with cash, jewellery and valuables missing. Perusal of CCTV footage also did not disclose anything substantial which could give any leads to the police. However, this time the alertness of the security guards and cops helped us in apprehending this well-educated, high-profile, female thief," added the official.