Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, May 3: Three men have been arrested for allegedly cheating a diamond trader of Rs 22.7 cr by assuming fake identities and posing as businessmen in the diamond and gold trade.
The accused Hemant Shah, 48, who went by the alias Himanshu Shah, Shakeel Ahmed, 53, posing as Sameer Sanghani, and Kaushal Kadam, 35, who used the name Ashish Mane are accused of taking diamond and gold ornaments worth crores under false pretenses, officials from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said.
The trader, based at Bharat Diamond Bourse, Bandra-Kurla Complex, had been initially duped when Shah and Sanghani, pretending to be diamond businessmen from Gujarat, gained his trust by taking ornaments worth Rs 1.25 cr, selling them, and returning the proceeds. They later took Rs 22.75 cr worth of ornaments and vanished after closing their Khar office, switching off their phones.
The trader filed a FIR in April after discovering the fraud. Shah was arrested from his rented office in Vile Parle, while Kadam was apprehended in Panchgani, and Sanghani was caught in Jaipur. The court has sent the trio to police custody until May 10.
Both Shah and Sanghani have accused each other of being the main culprit, the police revealed.