Trio fleece diamonds worth ₹97 lakh from BKC trader

Mumbai: The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) police have registered a case against three people for allegedly duping a diamond trader to the tune of ₹97 lakh

Mumbai: The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) police have registered a case against three people for allegedly duping a diamond trader to the tune of ₹97 lakh.

Laborers fix a water fountain outside the World's Largest Diamond Bourse at BKC in Mumbai on Thursday. Bharat Diamond Bourse will inaugurate the World's Largest Diamond Bourse on Oct. 17. HT Photo by Kunal Patil. Mumbai:14.10.10

According to the police, the accused trio on the pretext of an inquiry, took photos of the diamonds and their pouches and on the second visit, replaced them with similar pouches containing fake diamonds.

The trader came to know about the fraud only when the accused three went incommunicado after twice visiting his office. Suspecting foul play, he checked the pouch and found the fake diamonds.

A case has been registered based on a complaint lodged by Satish Chandpara, 35, a diamond trader from Bharat Diamond Bourse in Bandra Kurla Complex.

Chandpara said that a person named Babubhau Jassani introduced the accused three to him claiming they were reputed diamond brokers with good contacts in the market. The trio have been identified as Narseebhai Kherodiya from Surat, Ramesh Bhai Soni from Borivali and Lokesh Ravajibhai form Goregoan.

“The three visited Chandpara’s office in October 2022 and examined some diamonds. They chose 320.55 carat diamonds, which were valued at around ₹96.60 lakh, at his office,” said a police officer from BKC police station. They then told the trader to keep the diamonds aside and that they will return with the money to purchase them.

The trio came back to Chandpara office and told his father Punabhai to show them the diamonds selected during their earlier visit. “They saw the packets for a while and told him they will come back with cash and left. They told his father not to sell the diamonds, as they had liked them,” said the police officer.

After some time, when the three did not return, the trader and his family decided to call them once before selling the diamonds to some other party.

A police officer said, “When they dialled, they found mobile phones of all of them switched-off. The trader got suspicious and opened the packet of the diamonds selected by the trio — only to realise that they had changed the original diamonds with fake ones.”

The officer said they have registered an offence against trio under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. “We are yet to make any arrest in the case,” said Vishram Abhyankar, senior police inspector of BKC police station.