Editor’s Note
This article reports on a surprising development in a high-profile diamond heist case, where police allege the theft was staged by the factory owner and associates for insurance fraud.
In a twist in the DK Sons diamond factory heist, the Surat police on Tuesday arrested the firm’s owner Devendra Chaudhary, his elder son Piyush Chaudhary and his driver Vikash Bishnoi for hatching a conspiracy and staging a theft in his firm for allegedly getting an insurance claim amount of Rs 20 crore.
Police said that no diamonds were stolen from the Surat factory and that Chaudhary had taken the insurance just eight days ago.
On Monday, Chaudhary had lodged a complaint with Kapodara police station alleging that polished and rough diamonds and cash, all worth Rs 32.53 crore – were stolen from the metal safe of his firm, DK Sons, at Kapoorwadi area of Kapodara, Surat.
The theft has since become a topic of discussion in Surat, famous for its diamond industry.
According to police, Devendra Chaudhary, a resident of Punagam in Surat and native of Barmer district of Rajasthan, has been running two diamond firms – one Diamond King and another D K Sons – in the same building at Kapodara.
In his complaint, Chaudhary had alleged that some miscreants (around 4 to 5 men) broke open the main gate of his diamond firm between August 15 and 17, and decamped with the diamonds kept in a metal safe on the fourth floor of his manufacturing and polishing factory. While leaving the factory, they vandalised the CCTV cameras installed inside and outside the factory and took away the video recorder, the complaint said.
Acting on the complaint, the top police officials reached the spot and found the broken safe and CCTV cameras. Police also checked the CCTV footage of nearby properties and found that miscreants came in two auto rickshaws and escaped in the same autos.
Police sources said that the “theft” took place on Sunday night. During the probe, the police on Monday identified both the auto drivers. During questioning, they revealed that they were hired by passengers from different locations, one near Surat Railway Station and another from Varachha.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Surat Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1) Alok Kumar said.
