Two held for cheating Surat jeweller of Rs 36 lakh: Police

The police identified the arrested accused as Nikunj Dhakan (35), a resident of Mumbai, and Haresh Moradiya (42), of Laskana in Surat. Police sources said Haresh had earlier worked at a diamond unit in Surat and was unemployed for the past few months.

According to the police, the main conspirator is Dhakan. He contacted a Surat jeweller, Amit Chandgadhiya, sharing a photograph of a fake jeweller firm in Pune, and expressed his wish to buy plain gold jewellery sets.

Dhakan shared images of some plain gold jewellery, and the latter selected six such sets, weighing 307.420 gm. Dhakan struck a deal to send three “gold biscuits”, each weighing 100 gm. Chandgadhiya agreed to the deal. On September 16, 2025, Dhakan sent his friend, Haresh Moradiya of Surat, and collected six plain gold jewellery sets worth Rs 36.07 lakhs in exchange for three gold biscuits in the Salabatpura area.

After reaching the jewellery shop, Amit checked the gold biscuits and found the outer layer to be 24 carats of gold, while the inside was of another metal. Feeling cheated off, Amit called Nikunj and found his mobile phone switched off.

Amit registered a complaint of cheating against Nikunj and Haresh with Salabatpura police station on October 17.

A team of the Surat crime branch nabbed Haresh Moradiya, a resident of Laskana in Surat. On the basis of his interrogation, police traced Nikunj Dhakan to Mumbai and later apprehended him, bringing him to Surat on Friday.
Surat crime branch police inspector R I Jadeja said, “To tackle his debt, Nikunj came into contact with Nitin Jain of Rajasthan, who provided him with fake gold biscuits. Haresh worked with Nikunj. Nitin Jain is yet to be arrested. We suspect that many more jewellers might have become victims of this gang.”

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