Mumbai jewellery store staffer replaces Rs 13 lakh diamonds with fakes

Accused Rinkesh Soni

The Marine Drive police on Saturday arrested a staffer employed with a renowned jewellery chain for stealing diamonds worth Rs 12.93 lakh from a high-end jewellery showroom in south Mumbai. The arrested accused has been identified as Rinkesh Soni, a resident of Agripada.

The incident took place at the outlet run by one Ajit Arenjha in August. Izdan Malik, an employee, was showing a customer a diamond ring when the stone fell off the ring and Malik immediately informed his assistant manager about it, the police said. That day, the manager found two defective rings.

According to the police, on August 22, both rings were sent to the factory, and the next month, Arenjha was informed that both did not have original diamonds. However, Arenjha kept the news to himself as it was the Diwali season. He later called a meeting of the employees and informed them about it.

Within days, an employee, Rinkesh Soni, who was on leave at the time, started contacting a colleague, Kavita Bhanushali, through WhatsApp asking if everything was fine at the showroom. Bhanushali was told to continue chatting with him and the police was informed.

The accused had replaced two original diamonds in the rings costing Rs 8,67,500 (1.25 carat) and Rs 4,25,700 (0.90 carat) with fake ones. "We found out that Soni was supposed to reach CSMT on November 17 to meet a friend. We laid a trap and arrested him. He has confessed to the crime," a police officer said.

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