Thieves who replaced diamonds with sugar crystals arrested

Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch arrested two accused who allegedly duped a Gujarat-based diamond trader of ₹1.18 crore by replacing real diamonds with sugar crystals under the pretext of purchasing the former. The accused had managed to flee from Surat in Gujarat and came to Mumbai but were arrested by the Mumbai crime branch from Kandivali and Lalbaug. They have been handed over to the Gujarat police for further investigation.

The arrested accused are identified as Mukesh Babubhai Gopani, 40, from Kandivali East, and Naresh Kababhai Sarvaiya, 34, from Lalbaug, Mumbai. The police said that both the accused were diamond brokers and their past criminal records were being checked to see if they had committed a similar crime in the past. Gopani was arrested in Dubai for a cheating case and was in jail for three years, before he came to Mumbai three years ago.

According to the police, the incident occurred on the afternoon of February 18 when both the accused visited the complainant’s office in Surat along with another associate ostensibly to purchase diamonds. Before the incident, they had gone to the shop once on a similar pretext, and had taken note of the complainant’s showcase, how and where the diamonds were kept and what paper was used to wrap them, said a crime branch officer.

When the accused visited the shop a second time on February 18, they carried white sugar crystals wrapped in a paper of the same colour that the complainant used to keep his diamonds. They entered the shop while an accomplice kept watch outside. As one of the accused talked to the complainant, the other exchanged the packet of real diamonds with that of the white sugar packet they had brought along.

The complainant, Dharmesh Babubhai Pawashiya, 31, registered a case in the local police station in Surat. Recently, the Gujarat Police learnt that two of the accused were hiding in Mumbai, and shared the details with the Mumbai crime branch’s Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) team. The CIU conducted an inquiry and managed to arrest the duo on Saturday, said the police official. During the interrogation, the accused revealed that they had sold some of the diamonds in the city and sent the money to the main accused through hawala.