A diamond trading agent, who allegedly fled with fraudulently obtained diamonds worth ₹26 crore, travelled across the country and even posed as a saint at Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, before landing in the police net earlier this week.
According to the BKC police, Yatish Fichadia (31) worked as an agent. Last December, he took diamonds worth ₹26.91 crore from 26 merchants operating out of the diamond bourse at BKC on credit and fled the city without paying for them. The merchants approached the police on December 11.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone VIII) Anil Kumbhare said, “We got in touch with diamond shop owners and cautioned them against buying diamonds from the accused. They assured us that they would not make any purchase without verifying the credentials of the seller.”
On tracking Mr. Fichadia’s movements, the police found that he was discarding SIM cards and changing his appearance every time he shifted locations. They tracked him as he moved through Delhi, Agra, Ajmer, Rajasthan, Lucknow, Bihar, Shimla, Vrindavan, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Vishakhapattanam and Prayagraj.
On Tuesday, the police received a tip-off that he was coming back to Mumbai, and laid a trap at Kalyan railway station, where he was supposed to arrive by train. Mr. Fichadia was taken into custody as soon as he showed up, and was arrested.
In his interrogation, he said that he had run out of money after over a month on the run and had posed as a saint at Kumbh Mela to earn some money. Then he decided to come back to the city.
“Based on his interrogation, we have also arrested seven other accused who helped him. They were all promised ₹5 to ₹6 lakh in return. We have recovered ₹20.38 crore in cash from the accused and efforts are on to recover the remaining diamonds,” police sub-inspector Pradeep Khanvilkar, BKC police station, said.