Diamond broker who fled with Rs 26.91 cr loot hid in Kumbh as 'sadhu'

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After chasing 31-year-old Yateesh Khichadiya, a diamond broker through 12 states, the BKC police have finally arrested him and six others for cheating 25 diamond traders for Rs 26.91 crore. While the cops picked up Khichadiya from Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, the others were nabbed from the city.

The matter came to light on December 11, 2018, when trader Suresh Borada filed a complaint at BKC police station. According to him, Khichadiya had usurped diamonds worth Rs1 crore from him. Soon after his complaint, the other traders also filed complaints against the same accused. The police then registered an FIR and a team was formed by Senior PI Kalpana Gadekar under PI Pradeep Khanvilkar to probe the case.

Preliminary inquiry revealed that Khichadiya was working as a diamond trader for a firm at BKC's Bharat Diamond Bourse. When the cops reached out to his family, it was revealed that they had filed a missing complaint with the Virar police. Baffled, they started tracking his phone record and found that he was constantly in touch with a person named Vijay Parmar following to which the cops picked up Parmar from Kandivli.

A police officer said, "All the seven accused had purchased sim cards under different names. They also had their train tickets ready and went absconding couple of hours before the victims approached us. We have arrested all the accused. Diamonds worth Rs 20.38 crore have been recovered," said another officer.

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