Panna labourers who mined a diamond turn crorepatis

Two days ahead of New Year, two labourers of Panna district in Madhya Pradesh received a gift turning them into crorepatis. A big diamond mined by Motilal and Raghuveer Prajapati almost two months ago fetched a price of Rs 2.55 crore in an auction held on Friday.


A Jhansi-based jeweller along with a BSP leader from Uttar Pradesh made a bid of Rs 6 lakh per carat, the highest, in the auction held in Panna. For the 42.9-carat diamond, the amount turned out to be about Rs 2.55 crore, said Santosh Singh, the diamond officer of Panna. He said the bidder deposited a cheque of 20% of the cost and the remaining amount will be paid within a month when he would take possession of the diamond.

“After deducting about 12% royalty and other taxes, the remaining amount would be transferred to the account of Prajapati,” the diamond officer said. It means the two labourers would share about Rs 2.30 crore. They made their fortune when they dug out one of the biggest diamonds in the history of Panna’s shallow diamond mines on October 9. Before that, the biggest 44.55 carat diamond was found in the shallow mines of Panna in 1961.

Completely clueless while carrying the precious stone to deposit it with the office of district diamond officer, the two labourers had said that they would repay their debts once they receive the money. On Friday, neither of them turned up during the auction. Later in the evening, they said they celebrated the moment again by offering prayers and distributing sweets.

“We can now educate our children,” they said. Raghuveer needed the money desperately to repay his debts, said Motilal. “They will receive the sum within a month,” said the diamond officer while talking to TOI.

Charan Singh, who plans to contest Lok Sabha election from Panna said Jain has a turnover of Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore.

Borivli builder held for duping jewellers of ₹8cr

The economic offences wing of Mumbai police arrested a Borivli-based builder who has allegedly cheated several jewellers to the tune of Rs 8 crore.


Ankit Gosalia has been booked under various IPC sections.

Police said though there are several cases pending against him, they arrested him on a complaint filed by Ganpatlal Jain of Pragati Gold Pvt Ltd.

Jain, in his complaint, alleged Gosalia, who owns World Gold Junction Pvt Ltd, approached him claiming he wanted to export gold ornaments abroad. Jain sent over six kg goldworthRs1.8 croreon credit, but Gosalia never paid him. Hence, he approached the police.

Kandivli exec duped of ₹10 lakh

Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against an unidentified person for duping a Kandivli resident of over Rs 10 lakh by promising high returns in the share market. The victim, Ramkrishna Iyengar (42), an executive with a private company, lodged the complaint on December 28 after the accused fled with his money. The accused duped Iyengar by luring him with 6-10% returns on investment.

Dawood aide, 2 others declare diesel as oil to evade high duty

Dharmendra Sajnani

Three persons, including a Dawood associate and a former Customs officer, have been arrested for importing high-speed diesel by declaring it as hydrocarbon oil as the latter attracts a lower duty, causing huge losses to the exchequer. High-speed diesel is the diesel that we get at fuel pumps across the country.


With the three arrests on Saturday, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) claimed to have busted a gang that had been indulging in misdeclaring goods to evade a higher Customs duty.

The trio was arrested with 9,000 metric tonnes of diesel worth Rs 37 crore. The DRI is probing some companies which were indulging in the crime. A source said that the DRI has detained at least 10 containers on the suspicion that their owners did not declared the real goods.

Officials said that the arrested former Customs officer, Indu Shekar, allegedly aided and abetted the crime. The Dawood associate who was arrested, Dharmendra Sajnani, has a criminal record. In 2017, he was arrested by the Ahmedabad anti-terrorism squad (ATS) for the 2000 murder of Rajkot Mills’ manager, Arvind Patel, over a financial dispute. Sajnani shuttles between Dubai and Mumbai and used runs a yarn and velvet business.

The DRI said that Shekar, who took voluntary retirement a couple of few years ago, had been helping the third arrested accused, Anjali Dubey of Flexi India, in importing diesel by declaring it as hydrocarbon. Sajnani, Shekar and Dubey were produced before a court and remanded into DRI custody.

DRI officials claimed that they had received a tip-off about some importers smuggling high-speed diesel into India through Nhava Sheva port by under-evaluating it. “We had information that Shekar and Sajnani were likely to arrive from Dubai on Saturday. We laid a trap at the airport and arrested them,” said an DRI official.

DRI officials said that diesel and petrol can only be imported by authorised public sector companies. Advocate Sujay Kantawala for Sajnani said, “My client is innocent and they are doing legal business. The Custom department’s own lab deputy chief chemist has certified that the seized liquid is furnace oil and not diesel,” said Kantawala.