First of two Indian nationals jailed for diamond theft from Singapore store

Singapore: The first of the two Indian nationals who travelled to Singapore after hatching a plan to steal a diamond worth about SGD 200,000 (USD 154,000) from a store in Chinatown here, was sentenced to jail, and the hearing for the second man is fixed for Friday, according to a media report.

Mangroliya Manojkumar Kurjibhai, 41, was sentenced to two years, two months and two weeks' jail on Friday (Jul 17) after he pleaded guilty to one count of theft.

The case against his alleged partner-in-crime, Serasiya Milan Ramnikbhai, 30, is fixed for a hearing on Friday.


While one of the men distracted a staff member, the other swapped the genuine 4.95-carat diamond with the counterfeit and concealed the real gem in his mouth, according to a report by Channel News Asia.

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The men had a plan to replace the genuine diamond with a counterfeit but were caught before they could leave Singapore on a flight from Changi Airport.

Both Indian nationals met through a mutual friend and travelled to Singapore on social passes.

Before travelling to Singapore, the pair had commissioned a counterfeit diamond in Surat, made to match the targeted diamond's specifications and serial number. Court documents did not explain how they obtained these details beforehand, according to the Singapore channel report on Monday.

The plan was for Mangroliya to engage and distract the store's sales manager while Milan would replace the genuine stone with the counterfeit one hidden in his mouth.

The pair entered Singapore via Changi Airport on Jun 19, 2026 with the intention of stealing the 4.95-carat diamond, valued at USD154,000, from jewellery store Dianoche in Chinatown.

They entered the store at about 3 pm and asked to view the gemstone.

Mangroliya then distracted the sales manager by asking to view several items around the shop. When he directed Milan to execute the swap, the latter spat out the fake diamond and swapped it with the real gem.

He concealed the real stone in his mouth. However, his actions were captured on closed-circuit television cameras.

Mangroliya then told the sales manager they would consider the purchase before the duo left.

After their departure, the sales manager examined the diamond using an optical gemstone identification machine and found it to be a counterfeit.

The pair returned to their hotel, checked out ahead of schedule and booked a flight to India that evening.

However, they were arrested at about 8.50 pm at Changi Airport Terminal 3 while attempting to clear immigration. The genuine diamond was recovered from Milan's haversack.

Mangroliya was charged on Jun 20, and has since remained in remand.

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The prosecution left the jail term to the court, with State Prosecuting Officer Yip Cheng Yee highlighting several aggravating factors, including how the duo had entered Singapore purely to commit the offence.

"The offence was premeditated and involved a degree of planning. The accused commissioned a counterfeit diamond and worked in concert with (Milan) to carry out the offence and to avoid detection," the channel quoted Yip as saying.

In mitigation, Mangroliya said through an interpreter that he had two children in India and requested a "smaller punishment".

For theft in a building, he could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.