US woman cheated of Rs 6 crore by Jaipur jewellers with fake 300 Rs jewellery

Officials state that jeweller duo Rajendra Soni and Gaurav Soni allegedly passed off polished silver chains as gold and sold Rs 300 moissanite stones as expensive diamonds, complete with fake certificates.

Jaipur: A jeweller and his son in Jaipur have been accused of duping a US woman out of Rs 6 crore by selling her fake jewellery, police said on Wednesday.

According to officials, the jeweller duo, identified as Rajendra Soni and Gaurav Soni, allegedly polished silver chains to look like gold and sold Rs 300 moissanite stones as expensive diamonds, complete with fake certificates.

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Additional DCP Bajrang Singh said that Nand Kishore, who made the fake certificates, has been arrested. The police have issued a lookout notice for the absconding jewellers.

“The duo used the cheated money to buy a Rs 3 crore flat in Jaipur,” he said.

The matter came to light after Cherish Nortje, a US citizen, filed a complaint at Manak Chowk police station on May 18.

She had been dealing with the jewellers since 2022, buying gemstone jewellery for her business in the US.

In April 2024, she found out at a US exhibition that the jewellery was fake. She came to Jaipur in May to confront the jewellers, leading to an argument.

After the confrontation, Rajendra and Gaurav filed a complaint against Nortje, claiming that she forcibly took jewellery from their shop. However, CCTV footage showed Nortje leaving with the jewellery she had brought in.

The police confirmed that the jewellery was fake through a second lab in Sitapura and arrested Nand Kishore, who confessed to making the certificates based on the jewellers’ instructions.

The main accused, Rajendra and Gaurav, are still on the run, and police are searching for them.

More complaints from other foreign traders are now under investigation, officials said.