Diamonds worth 61L stolen from cutting unit

Rajkot: Thieves broke into a diamond cutting facility in Rajkot on Thursday night and made away with over 11,000 uncut diamonds valued at about Rs 61 lakh. The targeted unit, Khodiyar Diamond, is located on Kothariya Road.

The theft came to light early Friday morning when the unit owner, Vipul Gondaliya, discovered the break-in. He filed a complaint at Bhaktinagar police station, after which police officials inspected the crime scene.

According to Gondaliya, the factory, which employs 44 workers, had functioned normally on Thursday. On his arrival the next morning, he found the office door forced open. Inside, the safe containing raw diamonds had a three-foot hole drilled into it, and the stones were missing.

To cover their tracks, the burglars also stole the digital video recorder (DVR) that stored the CCTV footage. Investigators suspect the thieves had prior knowledge of both the layout of the factory and the security system.

Assistant commissioner of police (East) Rajesh Bariya stated, "We have formed ten teams comprising personnel from city crime branch, special operations group and Bhaktinagar police station to investigate the case."