Mumbai: A diamond merchant has been booked by Dahisar Police for allegedly duping two men from the same profession of Rs 77 lakh. The accused, Pankaj Shah, had approached the complainant by posing as a diamond merchant who sold the raw diamond and fetching them good price of the same in the market. The complainant, Digesh Kotia, told police that Shah had conned many other people within the diamond market by using the same flattering modus operandi. Kotia, a Dahisar-based diamantaire, purchased raw diamond from Surat in Gujarat after paying proper Goods and Services Tax (GST), polishes them at his shop and later sells the finished products at the diamond markets of Malad and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) respectively. Kotia who knew Shah over a year was in the business with him since then.
Initially, Kotia gave 39.86 carats of diamond in November 2018 and after selling them, Shah gave him total 10.25 lakhs as promised. At the second instance, Shah was given 11.12 carats of diamonds and he gave the profit amount to Kotia. Total seven such transactions took place between the duo out of which Shah paid for only the above two deals. “Shah used to take the diamond claiming that he shall get buyers who shall purchase it at a very profitable rate. Since the diamond market runs on trust, Shah first gained confidence of Kotia and later took undue advantage of him. Kotia had given total 133.66 carats of diamonds worth Rs 42.79 lakhs and his associate Kantibhai Padsala had given 89.45 carats worth Rs 34.33 lakhs.
Whenever the duo asked about the progress of the deal, Shah came up with different excuses and would ask to buy more time saying that since there is no demand, there are no buyers ready to turn up,” said a police officer. Kotia and Padsala later discovered that Shah’s address turned out to be fake and also he had turned off his mobile phone to avoid falling into trap. After being convinced that they were duped, Kotia lodged a police complaint on Saturday. “A case has been registered under Section 34 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code. Total amount of Rs 77,13,100 has been misappropriated in the matter. The case is being investigated and we are ascertaining how many more diamond traders have been conned like this,” the officer added. – Staff Reporter
