NDTV

Mumbai, Oct 30: In Mumbai's diamond hub, a man was arrested for stealing a 4 carat diamond worth Rs 12 lakh, which he hoped would help him recover his losses in business.

Ashok Badani, a small time trader of semi-precious stones visited Amrut Diamonds situated in Opera House, the city's diamond hub.

Pretending to be a customer, he saw several diamonds over three days and zeroed in on one particular size and cut. He then made a fake copy of that particular diamond.

And on day four when the merchant was occupied, he quickly swallowed the rock and replaced it with a fake one. He thought the theft would go unnoticed.

However the shopkeeper's sharp eye spotted the fake from the real and alerted the cops. The police arrested Badani and managed to recover the stolen diamond.

"After he confessed that he swallowed the diamond, we sent him to JJ Hospital. We were later able to recover the stolen diamond," said Ashok Haralkar, Inspector, D B Marg Police station.

Interestingly, he had swallowed the huge rock with much risk to himself, in the hope that without the evidence, his theft would go unnoticed.