Mumbai: The Bandra police arrested two men for burglarising a diamond jewellery factory in Bandra West on March 10 and recovered stolen gold and diamonds worth Rs1.91 crore. The accused, Arya Nag, 31, and Ravindra Gupta, 46, were nabbed from Chhattisgarh and Chor Bazar, Mumbai on March 20 and have been remanded to police custody till March 25. The complainant, Samarth Bajaj, 37, runs a family diamond business.
He discovered the theft when a staff member found jewellery missing from five boxes at their factory in Turner Heights, Bandra West. CCTV footage revealed an intruder disabling cameras before stealing 2,786.615 carats of jewellery.
Police formed seven teams, examined 500 CCTV clips, and traced the accused. Nag, a repeat offender with 20 cases in Mumbai, Chhattisgarh, and Hyderabad, and Gupta, also accused in a similar case, work as sellers of old clothes.
In another incident, BKC police registered an FIR against two brothers Chirag and Yogesh Viradiya for allegedly cheating diamond merchant Pritesh Shah, 47, of Rs1.56 crore. The accused took 420.69 carats of polished diamonds from Shah under the pretext of selling them but neither returned the diamonds nor made payment.
Shah, who operates Maruti James at Bharat Diamond Bourse, BKC, was introduced to Chirag through brokers. Chirag, who runs James Company, claimed a reputed buyer was interested and took the diamonds on February 17. He later said his brother, Yogesh, was in Hong Kong handling the sale.
When Chirag’s phone remained switched off, Shah discovered their office was shut down and reported the fraud to police. The brothers, still absconding, have allegedly cheated several other traders.
