Kumbh to Kalyan: Mastermind of ₹27 crore diamond heist held after 2 months

The accused, Yatish Fichadia, evaded arrest for two months while travelling to more than 10 cities including a week in Kumbh where he disguised himself as a sadhu.

The mastermind of a ₹26.91-crore diamond heist was arrested from Kalyan on Tuesday after having given the police the slip in more than 10 cities for almost two months. Yatish Fichadia, 31, has been charged with sections 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC and been remanded to police custody till February 2. Diamonds worth ₹20 crore and cash worth ₹38 lakh were recovered from various locations in Thane and Mumbai.

According to police Yatish Fichadia took up a job as an agent at a diamond bourse eight years ago with a pre-planned motive of stealing diamonds. (HT Photo)

Virar resident Fichadia started working as an agent at the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) in Bandra Kurla Complex eight years ago. “He took the job with a pre-planned motive. After stealing the diamonds, he wanted to start a shop of his own at BDB,” said an officer.

Cosp believe Fichadia started executing his plan in September 2018 with six accomplices, including a lawyer and a diamond broker. “After he gathered diamonds worth ₹26.91 crore from 25 traders, he escaped the city in early December. It was on December 11 that the traders realised the heist and approached us,” said inspector Pradeep Khanvilkar of BKC police. On December 18, diamond trader Suresh Borda filed a complaint, saying he had given diamonds worth ₹1.25 crore to Fichadia.Attempts to track him using his cellphone failed as he had left it at home. Before leaving, he kept diamonds worth ₹22 crore with an accomplice, Raj Mansuri in Mumbai.

While on the run, Fichadia would request strangers to let him make a call to his accomplices. He would do so to avoid the cops. His accomplices would sell some diamonds and send him the cash.

The police believe Fichadia’s wife filed a missing person complaint at Arnala police station in Virar while he was travelling around to mislead the investigation. “He went to Ajmer, Delhi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Vishakhapatnam and other cities,” said deputy commissioner of police Anil Kumbhare. Fichadia evaded the police thrice in one week in Prayagraj by disguising himself as a sadhu at the Kumbh Mela.

Using local informers and call data records, cops located Fichadia’s six accomplices – Suresh Madheshiya, Kamil Qureshi, Ketan Parmar, Imran Khan, Vishal Srivastava and Mansuri – and arrested them between December and January.

Diamonds worth ₹4 crore were recovered after Parmar’s arrest on December 30. During interrogation, the six told the police that Fichadia was not missing, but on the run.

Ultimately, the police dried up Fichadia’s cash flow by instructing diamond trading associations to not buy any consignment that may be from his stash. “Once he ran out of cash, he had to come back to get more money. We posted a team at Kalyan railway station where long distance trains have halts. We arrested him on January 29 as soon as he got down,” said an officer.