With sleight of hand, 2 men steal diamonds worth ₹3.5 crore

On July 4, he received a phone call from a person who identified himself as diamond trader Bharat Kumar Kandhol from Gujarat and expressed a desire to see some quality diamonds to buy

Mumbai With some clever sleight of hand, two men managed to steal three real diamonds worth ₹3.5 crore, by replacing them with fakes, at a jeweller’s office in the diamond bourse at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). The incident that took place on July 7 has been captured on CCTV and the police are on the lookout for the two men.

A few days later, Kandhol along with another person Kaushik Popatbhai Chauwatia visited Sojitra’s office in BKC. They left after seeing some diamonds and returned again on July 7 (AFP)

The complainant in the case is Abhishek Sojitra, a diamond merchant. On July 4, he received a phone call from a person who identified himself as diamond trader Bharat Kumar Kandhol from Gujarat and expressed a desire to see some quality diamonds to buy.

A few days later, Kandhol along with another person Kaushik Popatbhai Chauwatia visited Sojitra’s office in BKC. They left after seeing some diamonds and returned again on July 7.

An employee by the name of Harpal (full name not known) displayed a few of the expensive diamonds to Kandhol and Chauwatia. After seeing the stones, the two shortlisted three diamonds and expressed a desire to buy them.

According to the police complaint, while Kandhol engaged the office staff in some conversation, Chauwatia put the three diamonds in a packet and requested the staff to keep them aside. This is when they suspect the sleight of hand happened. After this, they informed the diamond trader’s staff that they would come back to make the payment and take the delivery of the precious stones.

As the two “diamond merchants” did not return for a few days, the complainant got suspicious. He called both Kandhol and Chauwatia, but they did not answer the calls. He then opened the packet only to realize that the three diamonds in the packet were duplicates.

The complainant then realized that at the time of putting the diamonds in the packet, the accused must have swapped the diamonds, a police officer said.

The complainant then checked the CCTV footage of the day and saw the two making a quick exit after leaving the jeweller’s office. On Monday, the complainant approached the police and an FIR was registered by the BKC police station.

The police have registered a case against Kandhol and Chauwatia under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

This incident has called into question security at the well-shielded Bharat Diamond Bourse at BKC. A senior security officer said that only those persons are allowed entry inside the bourse whose details are registered with their security system and possess an access card. Other individuals, who are not registered with the security system, are allowed inside only after they furnish all their personal details, take a token by giving the reference of the company/firm he/she wishes to visit. No personal frisking of any individuals is done at the entry or exit gate of the bourse, the officer added.