Ahmedabad CBI Court sentences Diamond Co. directors to 5 years in jail

Ahmedabad: The CBI Court in Ahmedabad has convicted M/s Kushal Diamonds Ltd., its Chief Managing Director Bakul Zaveri and Director Mazhar S. Kapadia in a 26-year-old case involving criminal conspiracy and cheating.

The court, on September 8, 2026, sentenced Zaveri and Kapadia to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on each of them. The court also imposed a Rs 30 lakh fine on the company.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case on March 15, 2000, against four officials of the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), Ahmedabad, and the directors of Kushal Diamonds Ltd.

According to the CBI, NSIC had disbursed Rs 2.34 crore to Kushal Diamonds under its Bill Discounting Facility and Raw Material Assistance Scheme. After adjusting various payments and amounts, Rs 99.96 lakh remained outstanding as of March 31, 1996, resulting in an alleged wrongful loss to NSIC.

The CBI filed a chargesheet on January 8, 2002, against eight accused, including Kushal Diamonds Ltd., its three directors, Bakul Zaveri, Mazhar S. Kapadia and Subhash Chhanana, and four NSIC officials.

Following the trial, the court convicted the company, Zaveri and Kapadia. The four NSIC officials, Virendra Kumar Sawhney, Rohit Dhingra, Ram Avatar Agarwal and Rajesh Arora, were acquitted of the charges.

Subhash Chhanana died during the trial, following which proceedings against him were abated.

DeshGujarat