Jewellers con bizman with fake diamond

Hyderabad: A city-based businessman was cheated to the tune of Rs 1.2 crore by two jewellers who sold him a fake diamond, claiming to be original (25 carat) and worth Rs 4 crore in the market. The two accused were nabbed by the Task Force. 

The accused were identified as Md Ather Siddique alias Ather, 52, a resident of Muradnagar in RC Puram and Md Salam Khan, 39, a resident of RC Puram, both involved in pearls and ruby business. Following the complaint from Shaik Haji, 41, a businessman, that he was cheated by these two men who actually sold him a normal moissanite stone, claiming to be a real diamond. 

Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, the City Police Commissioner, V V Srinivasa Rao said both the accused who were in financial crisis hatched a plan to cheat Haji, who was known to them. They bought a fake diamond on January 14 from Sunday market near Charminar for Rs 3,500. “The accused called the complainant to Swadesh Lodge in Abids and bargained to sell the fake diamond for Rs 1.2 crore,” informed the Commissioner. 

Later as per their schedule, on January 18, Salam Khan and Ather Siddique brought the fake diamond and shown it to the complainant. Salam Khan tricked the victim to buy the diamond by placing it for testing with device (diamond selector). Convinced by the demonstration, Haji collected the diamond by paying Rs 1.2 crore. 

After one week, Haji himself started asking the accused to provide him with some prospective buyers for selling the diamond. But the accused started postponing the matter and avoided to talk to him. Meantime, the friends of the complainant (investors) from whom he borrowed hand loan, started pressuring him to return their amount. Later Haji decided to sell the said diamond in open market so that he could return the money back to investors. 

However, he was shocked to know that it was fake after testing it at another place. “The accused along with seized property including cash, duplicate diamond, diamond selector (testing device), dick smith electronic weighing machine, ultraviolet rays machine, table diamond selector light and other material were handed over to Abids police station for further investigation,” added the Commissioner.