Two arrested for replacing diamonds with fake stones in Delhi

New Delhi: Two men were arrested for allegedly cheating a jewellery showroom worker and escaping with three diamonds after replacing them with fake stones, police said on Wednesday.

Another man, identified as Madhusudhan Aggarwal (54) was also arrested for buying the stolen diamonds from Sagar Gupta (37) and Chander Shekhar (44), they said.

The incident took place on June 6. The police reached a mall at Saket where the showroom owner stated that Gupta had previously purchased a diamond from his shop and gained faith, a senior police officer said.

Gupta visited the victim's shop two to three days back and chose three diamonds to purchase, police said.

On June 6, Gupta, along with his associate, visited the shop and showed interest in purchasing the three diamonds. But he asked to get the authenticity of the diamonds checked from Karol Bagh before making any payment, the officer said.

The complainant handed over the diamonds to his employee and sent him with two accused. They took a taxi and on the way, Gupta asked the employee to show the diamonds. The employee handed over the diamonds to him on his repeated requests, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Ankit Chauhan said.

After some time, the accused returned the container to the employee and said that the diamonds were not genuine and he would not purchase them. He asked the employee to get down from the car, police said.

The employee returned to his shop and narrated the incident to the owner. The container was checked and three other stones were found in it, he said.

During the investigation, police checked CCTV footage of the area and identified the accused. Later, Gupta was nabbed from Gurgaon and confessed his offence in connivance with his associate Shekar. Shekhar was also apprehended from Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Chauhan said.

It was revealed that they sold the diamonds to Aggarwal, Gupta's family friend, who was also nabbed and all three diamonds were recovered from his possession, police said.

Gupta used to deal in the sale and purchase of old gold and diamonds. Shekhar has been in the business of selling and purchasing diamonds on a commission base since 2012, police added.