The accused, identified as Uday Chokasi, Sureshbhai Borad, Khetram Devasi and Vinkal Shah, were arrested. (Representational) Four persons have been arrested for allegedly duping a 58-year-old diamond merchant from Myanmar to the tune of Rs 5 crore. Police said that the four arrested accused along with their two accomplices defrauded the complainant, Ye Min Ali, as they replaced his two pieces of original ruby stones with duplicate ones using “sleight of hand”.
According to police officials, the case was registered at DB Marg police station late on Tuesday after which the accused, identified as Uday Chokasi, Sureshbhai Borad, Khetram Devasi and Vinkal Shah, were arrested.
The police said that owing to the political uncertainty in Myanmar, the complainant was planning to settle in India and had started looking for business prospects on the internet in the regard.
“When the Myanmar businessman got introduced to Chokasi, the latter called him to India. During an exhibition in Jaipur during which they discussed about starting a business in India, the complainant happened to tell Chokasi that he had two pieces (51.47 carat and 78.76 carat) of ruby stone that his forefathers had given to him,” said an officer.
Soon after, Chokasi offered the trader diamond ornaments in exchange for the ruby stones, police said. The accused told the Myanmar businessman that the diamonds will help him start a fresh business in India.
Subsequently, they called Ali to Mumbai and met him early this week at the Pancharatna building.
“On Monday, after seeing the two pieces of ruby stones, Chokasi told Ali to consider it a done deal and handed him an envelope asking him to seal those two pieces of ruby stones in it,” said an officer.
“On Tuesday, the four accused brought diamond ornaments which they offered to Ali in return for two pieces of stones. One of the four accused replaced the envelope consisting original stones with an envelope consisting fake ones,” police said.
“Later, as the diamonds did not match the quality of the stones, the complainant called the deal off and left their office. After he went back to his hotel and checked the stones, he came to know that the accused had defrauded him. Following this, a case was registered and the four persons were arrested,” said an officer.
The four accused were produced in court and remanded in police custody till February 5. The police said that they are looking for two other persons who are wanted in the case.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
