MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has arrested a 29-year-old Hyderabad-based diamond trader for allegedly defrauding a Mumbai trader of diamonds worth ₹ 11.25 crore, after first building his trust through small business transactions, police said.
The investigation has also revealed that Choksi may not have been the only trader allegedly targeted by the accused. The shop was reportedly operational for only a short period, during which Thakur allegedly befriended several diamond traders and obtained diamonds from them on credit. “They shut the shop after cheating several traders. Neither returned money or diamonds to people. “We are yet to recover the diamonds which have been sold by the accused. The wanted accused need to be traced. The case was registered in May under charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.
The accused, Anand Singh Thakur alias Kunal, allegedly took diamonds worth ₹ 6.7 crore and ₹ 4.5 crore from complainant Ketan Choksi, who runs a diamond trading business in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), on the pretext of showing them to prospective clients. The diamonds, weighing 3,370 carats, have not yet been recovered, police said. The accused have similarly done cheating of ₹ 52 lakh, ₹ 58 lakh and ₹ 7 lakh,” said the police officer.
Police said the accused had allegedly established a diamond shop named Swastik Diamond Shop in Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad. “They initially conducted small business with him and later took diamonds worth ₹ 6.7 crore and ₹ 4.5 crore under the pretext of showing them to clients 3,370 carats,” the police said. We are searching for Arjun Pandey, Madan Sisodiya, Akbar Khan and Abhishek Vaidya,” said a police officer from EOW. Police said some of the accused also have cases registered against them in Ahmedabad.
