Conman with gift of gab polishes off diamond rings

MUMBAI: A conman with the gift of the gab lured a jeweller to a posh hotel in south Mumbai and tricked him into parting with three diamond rings, collectively worth Rs 16 lakh, on Thursday evening.
The accused, who introduced himself as Ajay Kumar (30), planned out the operation well in time and seemed to be so immensely confident that the jeweller never questioned his credentials and fell for his trick.
The act began on Tuesday, when Ajay went to the Dia Jewel store in CR2 Mall at Nariman Point, the police said. He checked a few rings and then told the salesman that he would come back in a couple of days with his "boss" who intended to buy the jewellery. As promised, he returned to the shop around 5.30 pm on Thursday but without his boss; instead he "finalised three diamond-studded white gold rings", the police said. Ajay told the staff at the store that his boss was staying at the Trident Hotel and requested them to come there to collect the money.
Assistant police inspector of Marine Drive police station Kishor Shinde said, "The accused took an employee of the jewellery shop, Rathod, and a peon to Trident where they sat at the bar, Opium Den. He told Rathod that his boss would come with the money in a few minutes and asked him to go back to the shop and fetch the rings. As soon as Rathod left, Ajay took the peon to the lobby of Trident and asked him to wait there."
Meanwhile, when Rathod returned with the rings, Ajay met him in the lobby of Oberoi. When Rathod asked him about the peon, Ajay said he was counting the money in the Trident lobby. Subsequently, the accused took the rings from Rathod and said he needed to make a call from the reception and quietly slipped off, the police said.
Looking for Ajay, as Rathod headed for the Trident lobby, he met the peon in the way; the peon told him that Ajay had not given him any money, the police said. Realising that they have been duped, Rathod approached the hotel officials for help but Ajay had already fled by then.
The police have, however, got the CCTV footage from the hotel. The officials, who are investigating the case, suspect that "Ajay Kumar" was not the real name of the accused.