Business partner cheats diamond merchant of ₹2.83 crore

Mumbai: A diamond merchant on Saturday registered a cheating case against eight persons, including his business partner, for allegedly selling off gems and jewellery worth ₹2

Mumbai: A diamond merchant on Saturday registered a cheating case against eight persons, including his business partner, for allegedly selling off gems and jewellery worth ₹2.83 crore and falsifying three ledgers of their joint business.

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According to the complainant, Amit Kirtilal Shah, a resident of Lamington Road, and his acquaintance Ateet Gandhi started a diamond business together in May 2021. Shah has his business under the name Siddha Exports in BKC, while Gandhi runs a business by the name Sahira Trading.

Shah said, “We have known each other since childhood as our fathers were friends back in Surat. We both incidentally became diamond traders when we grew up. Gandhi had previously run a business in Dubai. So when he asked me to work together for a diamond export business, I joined him.” Initially, he added, the joint business brought him handsome rewards, too.

Gandhi had even provided some employees, who had been working with him before, for the joint venture. While Gandhi would look for buyers, Shah would source diamonds those customers were looking for.

In June 2022, one such trade was made and while checking the accounts sometime later, Shah realised that the bill given to the customer was in the name of Gandhi’s company instead of his. It also showed an inflated price, he told the police.

After this discovery, Shah made some enquiries with the employees provided by Gandhi. In August 2022, the complainant also noticed that some of the diamonds from his safe in the BKC office, accessible by the employees provided by Gandhi, were missing. “I later came to know that it was sold off by Gandhi through his company as well,” the complainant said.

These two incidents made Shah check all ledgers that were being kept by Gandhi’s team. According to Shah’s calculations, he was cheated of jewellery and gems worth ₹2,83,00,000.

A police officer said, “We have registered a case against eight people, including Gandhi and his wife Pavitra Gandhi, for cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery based on the complainant’s account of the events. Further action will be taken based on the statements and proofs presented by the accused.”