Four arrested for trying to sell fake diamonds to businessman

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A 43-year-old businessman filed a complaint with the Airport Police after a gang of four men allegedly attempted to sell him fake diamonds here.

In his complaint, the victim, Lakshminarayana alleged that four accused identified as Ravi, Ahmed, Naveen Kumar and Abdul Dastageer, had requested to meet him on the pretext of a business deal on March 15 at Hotel Taj in Bengaluru.

It was learnt that among the accused, Ravi was known to the victim for several months and he was the one who texted the victim through WhatsApp asking to meet him on that day.

Lakshminarayana, a native of Andhra Pradesh, came to Bengaluru along with his friends and met the accused who introduced themselves as diamond businessmen.

"The accused took out 10 boxes containing crystals which they claimed to be diamonds worth Rs 10 crore. The accused also carried two testers which displayed the diamonds as genuine," the victim told the police.

Following a negotiation, the accused offered to sell these "diamonds" to the victim for just Rs 3 crore. However when the victim and his friend took a closer look, they found them to be fake imitations of diamonds.

Suspicious of this, the victim immediately called the police control room following which the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) Police rushed to the spot and picked up the accused.

A case under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment of life or other imprisonment) was registered against the ccused, the police said.