Female Techie from Rajasthan Turns Laptop Thief in Bengaluru; Arrested

A female techie turned into a laptop thief after she failed to land a job in India's Silicon City. What started as a compulsion soon turned into an obsession for 29-year-old Jasu Agarwal, who stole many laptops since 2022 and then sold them at discounted prices in open market.

Bengaluru: In a rather shocking development, a female B.Tech graduate from Rajasthan was arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly stealing laptops while staying as paying guest in several locations in the city since 2022.

City Police Commissioner B Dayananda in a statement on Tuesday (March 26) said that they arrested Jasu Agarwal (29) and recovered 24 laptops worth Rs 10 lakh from her possession.

The Commissioner said that Agarwal, a B Tech graduate, was previously working in a private bank in Noida. She left her job due to a low salary and came to Bengaluru but did not get a job despite interviewing in various companies, the Commissioner said.

He said that Agarwal stayed in PGs and hotels around Bellandur, Silk Board, Hebbal, Whitefield, and Mahadevpur areas where software companies are based, and stole laptops of the software engineers living in the area.

About her modus operandi, police said that during lunch hours in the PGs, Agarwal used to go to the rooms and steal laptops and escape. Being educated, she used to change passwords on laptops and sell them in Marathahalli, Yelahanka, and RT Nagar areas, police said, while adding that she used to sell a laptop for around Rs 10,000.

Agarwal was arrested on the basis of a complaint regarding the theft of a laptop in a PG under the HAL police station area. Commissioner Dayananda said that Agarwal, who was actively stealing laptops for the last three years, initially used to come to Bengaluru by train to commit the crime.

“As the number of laptop thefts gradually increased, she came to the city by plane and stayed temporarily in a PG and used to steal laptops. Based on a complaint, the police arrested the accused near Hunasamaranahalli and produced her before the court,” he said. The City Police Commissioner said that the accused is wanted in four cases registered in Koramangala, Indira Nagar and HAL police stations.

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