Surat diamond unit shuts before Diwali with ₹10 lakh of pay owed
The owner of Marutinandan Diamonds in Varachha is untraceable, police said on 23 October. The union says he paid ₹4.50 lakh of ₹14.50 lakh in wages, then stopped answering.
By Carat Capital
What changed
The unit shut. Marutinandan Diamonds, a Varachha cutting and polishing unit, has shut and its owner is untraceable, police said on 23 October. On the union's figures, ₹10 lakh of wages is unpaid.
What it means
- If you run a Surat unit: Workers are taking unpaid wages to the union and the police before the Diwali break.
- If you buy from Surat: The unit cut and polished both natural and lab-grown diamonds, the newspaper's sources say.
- What this is not: Evidence of wider closures. The source gives no count of other closures.
Key figures
| Wages pendingunion: total; police: unpaid | ₹14.50 lakh |
|---|---|
| Paid in Octoberunion | ₹4.50 lakh |
| Still unpaidCarat Capital's subtraction | ₹10 lakh |
| Polishers at the unitunion; 20 came forward | 55 |
Source: The Indian Express, 24 October 2026, quoting Surat police and the Diamond Workers Union Gujarat. Rupee amounts are the union's and the police's; the unpaid balance is Carat Capital's subtraction.
Part-paid, then silent
One payment came. The union says owner Kiritbhai Vagadiya paid ₹4.50 lakh in the second week of October and promised the rest on 19 October.
Then silence. He did not come, and his phone was off on 20 October, the union says. Workers found his home locked.
| Measure | Figure | Who says |
|---|---|---|
| Wages: the union's pending total, the police's unpaid sum | ₹14.50 lakh | union; police |
| Paid in October's second week | ₹4.50 lakh | union |
| Still unpaid | ₹10 lakh | Carat Capital's subtraction |
| Polishers at the unit | 55 | union; unnamed sources say over 50 |
| Workers who came to the union | 20 | union |
| One polisher's arrears, August and September | ₹60,000 | the polisher |
14.50 − 4.50 = 10.00 lakh rupees. The union says 20 of 55 came forward and 30 others are owed; 20 + 30 = 50, and the union does not account for the other five.
Police take statements first
A complaint filed. The Diamond Workers Union Gujarat asked police on 22 October to register a cheating offence against the owner.
No case yet. Inspector H B Patel says police will record polishers' statements, then file an offence report.
Thirty more may be owed
Twenty came forward. The union's Surat vice-president, Bhavesh Tank, says 20 of 55 polishers contacted it. He says 30 others are also owed two months' pay.
Two months each. One polisher, Monaben Mali, says she is owed ₹60,000 for August and September.
What to watch
- Not datedA police offence report against the owner, after statements are recorded.
- 5 to 15 November 2026The Diwali break the union expects, as it told Divya Bhaskar on 9 October.
The story so far
Go deeper
Corrections
Corrected, 26 October 2026: this article opened 'The owner left.' and headed a section 'Part-paid, then gone'. Its source, the Indian Express of 24 October, reports that the owner 'allegedly fled', and police call him untraceable; the page no longer states his departure as fact. It also said police gave ₹14.50 lakh as the total. The police sentence uses that figure as the unpaid sum; the union calls it the pending total, of which ₹4.50 lakh was paid. The page now gives both readings and says it follows the union's. A closing line said no count of other closures exists; it now says the source gives none. A watch line now attributes the 5 to 15 November break to the union's expectation, as Divya Bhaskar reported on 9 October. What was right as published: every figure. Found by Carat Capital's Standards desk on 25 October 2026.
What would change this call
The owner reappears and pays the balance before Diwali. Then this is a payment dispute, not a closure.
Where the figures come from
The union calls ₹14.50 lakh the total pending, of which ₹4.50 lakh was paid. The Indian Express's lead sentence, citing police, reads the same ₹14.50 lakh as the unpaid sum. This article follows the union's quote, so the ₹10 lakh balance is Carat Capital's subtraction on that reading. The headcount and the 30 further workers are the union's. No figure is from the owner, who could not be reached.
Method
The Indian Express, 'Surat diamond unit shuts, owner untraceable as workers flag pending salaries', datePublished 2026-10-24T08:12:33+05:30, fetched by the Editor on 25 October 2026, 200, 715,025 bytes; the article body read in the page's structured data. Read: 'salaries, amounting to nearly Rs 14.50 lakh ... police said on Friday'; 'On Thursday, the Diamond Workers Union Gujarat (DWUG) submitted an application at the Ashwani Kumar police station'; 'cleared part payment of Rs 4.50 lakh of the pending salaries of Rs 14.50 lakh and assured that he would pay the remaining amount on October 19'; 'on October 20 and found that his mobile phone was switched off'; 'Of the 55 diamond polishers working in the firm, only 20 contacted us'; 'remaining 30 workers'; 'DWUG vice president (Surat), Bhavesh Tank'; 'Police inspector H B Patel'; Monaben Mali's 'Rs 60,000'. Friday is 23 October and Thursday 22 October 2026. Two readings of one figure: the Indian Express's lead sentence says salaries 'amounting to nearly Rs 14.50 lakh' are unpaid, police said; its union quote says 'part payment of Rs 4.50 lakh of the pending salaries of Rs 14.50 lakh'. Carat Capital follows the quote. Gujarati reports, read by the Editor on 26 October 2026: Divya Bhaskar, datePublished 2026-10-22T14:49:34+05:30, 200, 432,510 bytes, gives no rupee total; it reports the owner paid 40% after the union's mediation and 60% is unpaid ('60 ટકા'). On the Indian Express quote, ₹4.50 lakh of ₹14.50 lakh is 31% (4.50 / 14.50 = 0.310). ETV Bharat, datePublished 2026-10-24T20:10:06+05:30, 200, 245,149 bytes, covers the union's bonus and overtime petition and does not name this unit ('મારુતિ' 0 hits, 'વાગડિયા' 0 hits). Both name the union's vice-president as Bhavesh Tank ('ભાવેશ ટાંક'). The Diwali dates are the union's expectation as reported by Carat Capital on 10 October. ARCHIVE, by entity: Carat Capital's archive, 'Marutinandan' 0 rows; 'Varachha' 1 row (11 October, a Surat property sale, opened, unrelated). NEW.