Indian man jailed in Singapore for Rs 1.49 crore diamond heist

How the swap unfolded

One man distracted a shop assistant while the other swapped a genuine 4.95-carat diamond for a counterfeit, concealing the real stone in his mouth. The pair had planned to substitute the gem before flying out of Singapore, but were caught before they could leave via Changi Airport.

Both men, who met through a mutual acquaintance, had travelled to Singapore on social visit passes, PTI reported. Before arriving, they had reportedly commissioned a fake diamond in Surat, crafted to match the targeted stone’s specifications and serial number though court documents did not detail how they had obtained this information beforehand, according to the Monday report.

The heist at Dianoche

The two entered Singapore through Changi Airport on 19 June 2026, intending to steal the 4.95-carat diamond from a jewellery store, ‘Dianoche’, in China Town. They walked into the store around 3 PM and asked to see the gem.

Mangroliya kept the sales manager occupied by asking to see other items in the shop, giving Milan the opportunity to carry out the swap spitting out the fake stone and replacing it with the genuine one, which he then hid in his mouth. The act was caught on the store’s CCTV cameras, PTI said.

Mangroliya reportedly told the manager the pair would think over the purchase before leaving. Once they had gone, the manager tested the stone with an optical gemstone identification device and discovered it was a fake.

Arrest at Changi Airport

The two men returned to their hotel, checked out earlier than planned and booked an evening flight back to India, PTI reported. They were arrested at around 8.50 PM at Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 while going through immigration, and the genuine diamond was recovered from Milan’s bag.

Mangroliya was charged on June 20 and has remained in police custody since. Prosecutors left sentencing to the court’s discretion, though State Prosecuting Officer Yip Cheng Yee flagged several aggravating factors, including that the pair had entered Singapore specifically to carry out the offence. PTI quoted Yip as telling the court, “The offence was premeditated and involved a degree of planning.”

In mitigation, Mangroliya, speaking through an interpreter, said he had two children in India and asked for a lighter sentence, PTI reported. The offence of theft in a building carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment and a fine.