Mumbai: Diamond merchant tracks down cheat after six years

Chintan Shah

The victim of a high-profile cheat managed to track him after six years, and informed the police of his whereabouts, recently. The DB Marg police arrested Chintan Ashwin Bhai Shah, 38, on January 31 from Surat, where he owned property, bought from the money allegedly made from cheating over seven diamond merchants in Opera House area in 2013.

Police said the victim, Nitin Kumar Doshi, 44, who was trying to find Shah for six years, found him on Facebook, downloaded his photograph, and circulated it among relatives and friends.

"A friend told me that Shah was living in Surat, where he had purchased two flats of 1,500 sq ft each, in an elite housing society at Vesu. Me and my friends kept watch on him for six months before alerting the police," Doshi told mid-day.

A team led by detection officer API Maruti Kadam arrested Shah from his shop at Surat after Doshi alerted them. Shah had taken polished diamonds worth Rs 14.5 lakh from Doshi on April 22, 2013. Police said Shah had told Doshi that he would pay him in 60 days but he never did.

"Doshi registered a cheating case against Shah on March 2, 2014 after the latter started to ignore his phone calls, stopped meeting him, and changed his phone numbers. We have arrested Shah and brought him to Mumbai," said a senior police officer at DB Marg police station. Another officer said that Shah had cheated around seven diamond merchants in Mumbai. A Girgaum court has sent Shah to police custody till February 8.

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