Cops hunt for suspects who robbed Surat bizmen of Rs 25L diamonds

According to their complaint, diamond merchant Mahesh (32) and his friend Kote (26) were befriended by a certain Moideen Sha on Facebook. Moideen allegedly promised to introduce the businessmen to his rich friends as potential customers. On his invitation, the men from Surat arrived in Chennai on May 25. Moideen took them from Koyambedu to a hotel on Walltax Road. The next day, he returned to the hotel with two other men and asked Mahesh and Kote to accompany them in their car. After travelling for about two hours, Sha and his friends stopped at a deserted spot, and snatched the bag containing the diamonds and threw the merchants out of the car. The men also threatened them with dire consequences if the approached the police and asked them to return to Gujarat. After the businessmen finally lodged their complaint a week later, the Elephant Gate police registered a case, inquired with the hotel authorities and collected the CCTV camera footage to trace the suspects. Sources in the police said that the merchants have been called back from Surat for a formal inquiry.