A prominent diamond merchant in Surat who had bought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monogrammed suit at an auction in 2015 has been allegedly duped of Rs 1 crore by two brothers, police said on Friday.

Laljibhai Patel, the chairman of Dharmanandan Diamonds Pvt Ltd, had bought the suit for Rs 4.31 crore at the auction in Surat.

Now, it has been alleged that two brothers — Himmat and Vijay Koshia — had cheated Patel’s firm by not making the payment towards rough diamonds they had taken from him on credit last year.

A complaint was filed at Katargam police station in Surat on April 22 by the manager of Dharmanandan Diamonds, Kamlesh Kevadiya, the police said.

The Telegraph

According to the FIR, the Koshia brothers had won the trust of the company and allegedly taken rough diamonds weighing 1,500 carats and worth Rs 1 crore on credit in October 2018.

In his complaint, Kevadiya claimed that the duo, who are on the run now, had promised to make the payment in 120 days, which is a norm in the diamond industry.

However, when Kevadiya called them up for the payment after the lapse of the credit period, their mobile phones were found switched off, the FIR said.

The Koshia brothers could not be traced and their office in the Katargam area was found locked, he told the police.

According to police inspector Z.N. Ghasura, the Koshia brothers had cheated other diamond traders too in the past.

“We have registered the complaint and started our investigation. We have learned that the Koshia brothers, who are yet to be arrested, had cheated other firms in the past and a complaint against them was registered at Varachha police station some time back,” Ghasura said.