Man arrested for stealing diamonds worth Rs 1.25 cr

Acting on a tip-off, a trap was laid and accused Kanhaiyyalal Dave was caught in Malad when he reached there to sell the stolen diamonds worth Rs six lakh, police said.

"After his interrogation, diamonds worth Rs 1.16 crore were also recovered. So far, the valuables worth Rs 1.22 crore were seized from the accused", a police officer at D B Marg police station said.

According to police Dave, who was working for an enterprise at Opera house in south Mumbai since April 24 on a daily wage basis, had attended office on May 2.

"Dave, who was into diamond assortment and polish work, had in the afternoon left the office but did not return. Diamonds worth Rs 1.25 crore were also missing. Following which the firm's owner Paras Kochar lodged a complaint reporting the theft incident", the officer said.

Since Dave had also stopped coming to the firm, the investigators strongly suspected that he would have stolen the valuables, police said.

"The phone of the accused was switched off since the theft incident was reported. We had inputs that Dave would come to Malad on Friday, following which a trap was laid and he was nabbed", the officer said, adding that the accused was remanded to police custody till May 14.