New Delhi: Three persons were arrested
for allegedly posing as traders and fleeing with diamonds
worth Rs 40 lakh of a Kanpur-based company, police said today.
The arrested were identified as Ravi Raj Johri (29),
Raj Kumar Bhardwaj (56) and Rajat Khanna (31).
The trio had allegedly opened a shop Riddhi Siddhi
Diamonds in Karol Bagh in February and started contacting big
diamond merchants, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central)
Jaspal Singh said.
"Johri used to keep record of conversation with
merchants in his diary and he kept contacting the merchants or
executives whoever showed interest in them," Singh said.
"He developed contact with the owner and sales
executive of Kanpur-based Shree Sidhartha Exports. The trio
then met the owner and initially took only one diamond worth
Rs four lakh on April 26 and returned the same three days
later to win the confidence of the owner," Singh said.
Later, they started demanding two pieces of diamonds
and on May 11, Sales Executive Charanjeet Singh Malhotra
visited their office and showed the diamonds worth Rs 40 lakh
to them. "They took the diamonds and all the three left the
office by making a fool of him and they kept the office open,"
he said.
During investigations, Singh said, it came to light
that Bharadwaj took the shop on rent and was arrested on May
12. His interrogation led to the arrest of the other two.
"Johri had left his rented house in West Patel Nagar.
His landlord Surender Pal gave us a copy of the tenant
verification form which had his details. With the help of
electronic surveillance, Johri was located in Kolkata and
arrested," Singh said adding Khanna was also arrested later.
Diamonds worth Rs 36 lakh were recovered from Johri
while the remaining was recovered from Khanna.
Johri was wanted in two cases. In 2006, diamonds worth
Rs 5.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh cash were allegedly recovered from
his possession at the Mumbai Airport by Income Tax Department.
Khanna was previously involved in two cases while
Bhardwaj is absconding in a case.
PTI
