How a near perfect diamond heist was ‘foiled' 2 months later — due to old prison mates' betrayal

Indian Express

a day ago

From creating a triple failsafe to hide his identity, to learning tradecraft from jailhouse 'experts', a first-time diamond thief nearly got away with stealing 11,655 precious stones in Gujarat. Described by an investigator as the case 'with the highest probability of not being solved,' the heist was executed by a highly skilled repeat offender who had previously been jailed for petty thefts and house break-ins.
Last month, he allegedly stole 11,655 diamonds weighing 130.55 carats and worth Rs 60.83 lakh from a polishing unit in Rajkot. Then, he disappeared for nearly two months, with multiple investigative teams hitting dead ends — until an overlooked clue led to the capture of a suspect.
On Friday, May 29, Rajkot City Police's Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) announced the arrest of 34-year-old Ajay Jagdish Lallu Nayka, a resident of Umarpada in Surat, for stealing the diamonds on the intervening night of April 10-11.
In early April, police said, Nayka began surveying the Bhaktinagar area of Rajkot, known for its cluster of diamond polishing units. After identifying a vulnerable unit, he allegedly hid tools in a shed next door, ensuring they were out of sight.
Nayka allegedly made two failed attempts on consecutive nights due to people being present at the site. On the third night, April 10, he 'succeeded'. Carrying a bag of clothes and masks, he allegedly broke into the vault using the specialized cutting tools and stole the diamonds.
'We were completely blind,' said Inspector Jadav. He said Nayka had employed three layers of identity protection: first, the accused wore a Guy Fawkes mask — popularised by the 1982 graphic novel V for Vendetta and its 2006 film adaptation. Second, Nayka allegedly disabled and removed the security control room's Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and hard disk. Third, he changed his clothes inside and walked on the road divider to evade surrounding CCTVs.
'Most CCTVs aren't angled to capture the divider or don't have sufficient range, especially at night,' said an investigator. After reviewing footage from over 100 cameras, police found no usable images of Nayka.
The triple failsafe had worked, right until he failed to sell the diamonds.
In May, Nayka travelled to Vapi and Surat to sell the diamonds on the black market. But the diamond industry, being tightly knit, had already been alerted statewide. Unable to enter the legitimate or even black market, he turned to the grey market.
'He had researched how to steal diamonds, but not how to sell them,' said ACP B B Basiya. Nayka didn't know the stones' value and received 'wildly different price quotes', which confused him. Fearing exposure, he decided to wait until the case went cold.
He allegedly hid the diamonds in an abandoned factory and returned to Umarpada.
'With no CCTV and no phone usage by Nayka, we had to explore other tactics,' said an officer. Investigators began tracing sellers of the specialized cutting tools used in the heist.
'There are four firms selling the drill machines and six selling the variable spanners. Nayka bought both locally in Rajkot but paid in cash, without bills,' the officer said. This lack of documentation stalled progress once again.
These no-bill purchases, often done to evade taxes, are now under scrutiny. Local police are investigating retailers who sold tools to Nayka without invoices.
'Stealing diamonds from reinforced safes requires expert-level precision using magnetic drills, cutters, and variable spanners,' said PI M R Gondaliya of the Crime Branch.
Police questioned 15 suspects previously involved in diamond heists, including three jailed for a 2023 case in Mahudi Taluka. All three were in the same Rajkot Central Jail barracks as Nayka, during his 2024 imprisonment for a house break-in.
'These men told us Nayka had been very curious about their methods,' said PI Jadav. 'He asked detailed questions about tools and techniques. They unknowingly trained him.'
Already familiar with fabrication tools, Nayka allegedly combined this jailhouse knowledge with YouTube tutorials to sharpen his skills.
With Nayka's arrest and recovery of the hidden diamonds, the case has now been transferred to the Bhaktinagar police station for further investigation.