Two brothers booked for duping diamond merchants of ₹1.56 cr | Mumbai news
Mumbai: The Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police has launched a manhunt for two brothers and diamond brokers who allegedly fled with diamonds worth ₹1.56 crore, taken on credit from two businessmen at the Bharat Diamond Bourse. Police suspect that thew accused, Chirag and Yogesh Viradia, were involved in similar offences and had duped others using the same modus operandi earlier.
According to the police, the complainant, Pritesh Shah, a resident of VP Road in south Mumbai, runs a partnership firm with an office in Bharat Diamond Bourse. On February 17, Dinesh Sawani and Amit Deora, two diamond brokers who were known to Shah, visited the office and introduced Chirag Viradia, claiming he owned a firm and had a client who was looking to buy good quality polished diamonds. Shah gave Chirag Viradia 294.22 carat diamonds worth ₹87.15 lakh after the latter signed a ‘jhangad receipt’ (handwritten receipt accepted in the diamond trade) saying he would repay the amount within four days.
“The brokers Sawani and Deora were also present and attested that Chirag Viradia would repay the money as soon as possible,” said a police officer.
When Shah called Chirag Viradia four days later and asked about the payment, the latter said the diamonds had been delivered to his brother Yogesh in Hong Kong and the payment would be made soon, the officer added.
When the payment did not come through after several days, Shah tried contacting Chirag Viradia, but the calls were not answered; calls to Sawani and Deora also went unanswered. Meanwhile, Shah learnt that on February 19, Chirag Viradia had approached another diamond merchant in the bourse through another broker and taken 126,67 carat diamonds worth ₹69.66 lakh on credit. There too, he had signed a jhangad receipt, defaulted on payment and stopped responding to calls, Shah mentioned in the complaint submitted at the BKC police station.
After verifying the facts, police registered a first information report (FIR) against the two brothers under section 316 (5), 318 (4) and 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“We have launched a search for the accused and are probing if they were involved in similar instances earlier,” said the officer quoted earlier.
