Diamonds worth Rs one crore stolen

The FIR was registered yesterday after inquiries concluded that the diamonds were stolen.

According to police, the complainant Bipin Doshi, (59), a diamond trader residing in Walkeshwar, had given a written application to D B Marg Police Station claiming an unidentified person had stolen polished diamonds of 495.30 carats worth Rs 1.04 crore from his office Vrishabh Diamonds located on the 15th floor of Prasad Chambers at Opera House. The incident had taken place on September 25.

Doshi said in his application that he had bought the diamonds from Bhavya Gems and kept in the office. A woman employee in his office had checked the diamonds just a little before 1 pm on the day, after which she left for lunch, leaving the diamonds back in the drawer.

A few hours after the woman employee returned from her lunch break, she could not find the diamonds and reported the matter to her employer.

Pandurang Sanas, Assistant Police Inspector at D B Marg police station, said "the diamonds were not kept in a locker as buyers keep coming and it's an everyday thing for the employees to show diamonds to them."

Police said that after checking the stock register and conducting an inquiry into the claims made by the complainant, it was found that the diamonds had indeed been stolen. Acting on this conclusion, we have taken a theft case on Monday.

"There are CCTV cameras in the building but there is none in the office. We have started scrutinising the footages to ascertain who had entered the building between 1-3 pm on September 25. We are checking the footage of a few hours later as it could be somebody from the building who stole the diamonds. Role of insiders in the crime cannot be ruled out," Sanas added.