Hyderabad cops arrest diamond thief after 550-km chase

HYDERABAD: In a scene straight from a filmy thriller, the Afzalgunj police chased Mohammed Ruhila, an attention diversion offender, for around 550 km, up to Chikkaballapur in Karnataka, and arrested him.

After cheating a diamond trader in the city, Ruhila had fled with 64 carat diamonds worth Rs.18 lakh and took a train to his hometown. The police tracked his live location, followed him on the National Highway to Bengaluru, and nabbed him. Police also recovered stolen diamonds from him.

The case was detected with the help of CCTVs and technical evidence, said east zone DCP Sunil Dutt, adding that the Ruhali was earlier involved in illegal sand transporting and cheating cases in Karnataka.

According to police, Vivek Jathin Jhaveri, a Surat-based diamond trader, had placed an advertisement to sell diamonds. Ruhali contacted him and expressed an interest in purchasing the diamonds. They agreed to meet in Hyderabad and close the deal.

Accordingly, they first met in a hotel at Afzalgunj on Wednesday, where Jhaveri’s brother showed Ruhali the diamonds in a pouch. Ruhali said that they could meet later to make the payment. A couple of hours later, they met again in the same hotel. Ruhali engaged the victim in a conversation and exchanged the pouch containing diamonds with a similar pouch he had arranged when Jhaveri was distracted and left the place.

On noticing the fraud, Jhaveri reported it to the police. After finding Ruhali’s mobile number from the hotel and tracking his location, a police team rushed to Chikkaballapur and alerted the Karnataka police.

After arresting Ruhali on Thursday, the police produced him before a court on Friday from where he was sent to judicial remand.