Gujarat: People throng to streets for diamonds; but they turn out to be fake

News of diamonds being scattered on the roads of Surat and people thronging to the streets to collect them had made news in the early hours of 26th September.

Jignesh Mevani, Member of the Legislative Assembly from Congress had also shared the claim. “Amid all the hype and claims of economic revolution in the country in last 9 years, a Surat based diamond trader was forced to throw away his diamonds on the streets after getting frustrated over failure to create demand for his business in the current challenging business environment. Scores of people are seen collecting the throw diamond from the streets. We can now imagine the dire state of the diamond industry in Surat which has been hit by dwindling exports,” he posted. 

Many news portals reported about the incident in Surat’s Varachha with the caveat that these might be rumours. 

The Police Inspector of Varachha police station, Alpesh Gabani confirmed that real diamonds were not scattered. “This rumour spread really fast in the area. One or two fake diamonds were found on the streets but no real diamonds were found anywhere. Somebody probably dropped some American diamonds on their way,” he stated in an interaction with The Quint.