Unidentified men broke into a diamond cutting and polishing unit in Dediapada town of Narmada district and decamped with diamonds worth Rs 67 lakh and Rs 1 lakh in cash when the unit was closed for Raksha Bandhan festival, police said.
According to police, Hiteshbhai Dewani, a resident of Mini Bazaar area at Varachha in Surat, runs six diamond factories of which two are in Surat city, two in Dediapada, one in Netrang and one at his native place in Gariyadhar taluka in Bhavnagar district. Tribal areas don’t have many diamond units as they mostly function in Surat city areas.
The unit was closed for the festival on August 11 and the theft would have taken place between August 10 night and August 12 morning, according to police.
The main door of the factory run from rented premises, opposite circuit house in the tribal-dominated Dediapada town, was broke open and the safe was opened with drilling machine.
As many as 4,483 pieces of polished diamonds and 11,666 partially polished diamond pieces worth Rs 66.99 lakh were missing along with Rs 1 lakh in cash, police said, adding that the incident came into light Friday afternoon, when one of the managers, Rahul Vasava, went to open the factory.
In his complaint, factory owner Dewani mentioned that he started the factory around seven months ago on the premises owned by Motibhai Vasava where 104 diamond polishers (all tribals) were working and three managers used to monitor the operations.
Narmada District Superintendent of Police Prashant Sumbe said, “We have registered a theft case and started a probe. There were no CCTV cameras installed and no proper security measures were adopted by the owner. There are around six diamond factories running from rented units in Dediapada town of Narmada district. Following this incident, we have intimated all factory owners to follow security measures and install CCTV cameras.”
Talking to The Indian Express, Devani said, “We have been in the business for two decades. This is first such incident in our factories. We will take all measures to prevent such incidents in future.”
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