SURAT:
Three persons were booked on Sunday for allegedly
cheating a diamond broker of Rs 48 lakh. The accused had opened an office in
Mahidharpura diamond market with a plan to carry out the
fraud. They disappeared with
218 carat polished diamonds without making the payment.
Police booked Dipak Bodra, resident of Pasodara near the city; Bharat Gida from Ganeshwadi in Savarkundla of Amreli and Raju Bhadani of Mota Varachha area here.
Bhadani was called for questioning and police are likely to arrest him by late night on Monday. The complaint was lodged by Raghav Italiya (54), a resident of Mota Varachha. The accused were booked under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating).
Police investigation revealed that Bodra is the main accused who planned the cheating. Bhadani is an employee in the office of Bodra. The accused had set up an office in Pipla Sheri of Mahidharpura diamond market few months ago, claiming that they want to do legal diamond trading. To earn trust of brokers, they collected diamonds of less value from different brokers to show to their clients. Later, they used to return the diamonds claiming that their clients are not interested in it.
“They were waiting to get hold of high value diamonds to commit the crime. Since they used to return the diamonds, brokers started trusting them and on March 9 they disappeared from market with diamonds of Italiya,” the police said.
“Bodra was in the past accused of cheating in a few cases. Efforts are on to nab the accused who are absconding,” the police said.
Police investigation revealed that Gida was also booked for some fraud in Amreli district earlier. Bodra’s father told police that he had no relation with the accused since past few years. Because of his frequent encounters with police over cheating cases, Bodra’s father Vajubhai has cut off relations with him. Bodra’s wife had also separated from him, while his son was being raised by Vajubhai.
