A day before Diwali, designer flees with jeweller’s gold worth ₹50L

The complainant also said that he had made an advance payment of ₹50,000 to Dhara for making charges. Dhara had given a handwritten receipt to Girdhar to make the deal official. Girdhar did not suspect foul play as he had made such deals earlier as well

MUMBAI: A Nalasopara-based jeweller approached the police a day before Diwali after his jewellery designer ran away with gold worth ₹50 lakh, which he was supposed to convert into ornaments and deliver to his clients for the festival.

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According to the complainant, Kiran Arun Girdhar, 45, owns a jewellery store in Nalasopara West and stays nearby with his family for the past 10 years. Girdhar said that his clients often gave him raw gold to convert it into ornaments, which he sent to the Swarnshilpi Workshop, near Vitthal temple in Virar West, owned by Arup Dhara, 40, to design the gold and make necklaces or other jewellery items.

Girdhar also said that the mortgaged jewellery, which is seized because the loan is not paid, is also sent to the workshop to melt and make new jewellery.

On October 28, Girdhar sent gold worth ₹50 lakh to the Swarnshilpi Workshop, which he had to deliver the next day on Diwali. “I told Dhara that I needed the jewellery by November 10 so that I could deliver it by November 11,” said Girdhar.

The complainant also said that he had made an advance payment of ₹50,000 to Dhara for making charges. Dhara had given a handwritten receipt to Girdhar to make the deal official. Girdhar did not suspect foul play as he had made such deals earlier as well.

On Friday, when Girdhar went to the workshop, he was surprised to find it locked. Assuming that Dhara had gone out, he returned and began trying Dhara’s number.

On Saturday, it had been a day since Dhara switched off his phone and locked his workshop without telling anyone Girdhar realised he had been cheated.

The accused have been booked for cheating and breach of trust under sections of the Indian Penal Code, “We are tracing Dhara at present. All his family members and relatives are being tracked to find out whether he has been hiding at their houses,” said Rajendra Kamble, senior police inspector of Virar police station.