Diamond traders duped of Rs 1.39 cr, broker booked

The Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police Thursday filed two FIRs against a broker for allegedly duping two diamond merchants of Rs 1.71 crore. The accused broker took diamonds worth Rs 1.71 crore from the complainant merchants under the pretext of selling them to clients. But, allegedly escaped with the precious stones.

The accused Dhanraj Prithviraj Jain lives in Kandivali. He has a diamond firm named Diara. The first FIR against Jain was registered based on the complaint by Manishkumar Waghani, 42. A broker Manoj Navdiya had introduced Jain to Waghani saying he has a client who wants good quality diamonds. Waghani gave Navdiya diamonds worth Rs 1.32 crore to give to Jain. According to police, after receiving the diamonds, Jain kept delaying them giving one date after another, and then finally told Waghani he would show the diamonds to a party on April 25, said a police officer.

On April 25, Waghani called him but his phone was switched off and he had stopped coming to office. This is when Waghani realised that Jain had no intention of returning the diamonds and he approached BKC police station.

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Jain also allegedly duped another diamond firm and a broker of Rs 39.09 lakh. The complainants in their statement have said that the accused has similarly duped many diamond traders and brokers, states both the FIR.

“We have registered two cases against Jain and are probing the matter,” said Dixit Gedam, deputy commissioner of police, zone-11.