Bengali actress Rupa Dutta has been arrested for allegedly stealing purses from people’s pockets at the Kolkata Book Fair.

Rupa Dutta, who has acted in television soaps, was arrested on Saturday after a policeman saw her throwing a purse into a dustbin, an officer of Bidhan Nagar North police station said.

She was then detained and questioned, during which discrepancies were found in her answers. Several purses and Rs 75,000 in cash were found from her bag during a search, he said.

“The woman has been arrested in connection with ‘kepmari’ (attention diversion theft) and further investigation is underway to find out whether more people are connected with the crime,” the officer said.

A case section 379/411 of the Indian Penal Code has reportedly been filed against Rupa. She was presented in court on Sunday where she claimed that she was throwing away a cold drink bottle when she came across the bag. She alleged that she picked the bag and the police arrested her. Rupa’s bail plea was rejected and she has been sent to judicial custody for a day.

Rupa had earlier hit media headlines for wrongly accusing director Anurag Kashyap of sexual harassment on social media.