US woman says Rajasthan man sold her fake jewellery worth Rs 300 for Rs 6 crore: Report

The police have formed special teams to look for the accused and his father who are on the run. (Representational image)

A US woman has claimed that she was duped into buying fake silver and gold jewellery worth Rs 300 for Rs 6 crore by a Rajasthan shop owner, the police said. Cherish said she discovered that the ornaments were fake when they were displayed at a recent exhibition in the US, NDTV reported.

The jewellery was apparently bought from a shop at Johri Bazaar in Jaipur. Cherish flew down to the city to confront the shop owner Gaurav Soni. But when he dismissed her allegations, Cherish approached the police in Jaipur and sought help from the US embassy, which later urged the Jaipur Police to look into the matter.

The US citizen told the police that she came in touch with Soni through Instagram in 2022 and bought ornaments allegedly worth Rs 6 crore which she has been paying in installments over the last two years before she realised that she was duped.

Meanwhile, the police said that special teams have been formed to hunt for Soni and his father Rajendra Soni, both of whom are on the run.

In a similar incident earlier this year, a case was filed against a jewellery shop owner for allegedly cheating a jeweller of gold worth Rs 1.9 crore in Navi Mumbai, police said on Tuesday.

The complainant, a jeweller from Kamote, has alleged that he had given Sisodia 3.8 kg of gold worth Rs 1.9 crore for making jewellery in October last year. The accused later claimed that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had raided his shop, he said. The complainant later found out that no such raid had taken place.

When the complainant asked Sisodia to return his gold, the latter gave him evasive replies, following which he decided to approach the police, he said.