MP Labourer Turns Millionaire Overnight After Digging Up Massive Diamond Worth Rs 80 Lakh
The Panna city is known for its diamond reserves and people often lease the shallow mines here from the government, in a bid to try their luck at finding the precious stone.
After leasing mines in Madhya Pradesh's Panna city for over a decade, hoping to find a diamond, a debt-ridden labourer finally hit a jackpot after he dug out a huge diamond, which can fetch upto Rs 80 lakhs ($95,000) in a government auction. The labourer, Raju Gound, in a rare discovery, found a 19.22-carat diamond, a size that is unlikely to be found in shallow mines.
Panna city is known for its diamond reserves and people often lease the shallow mines here from the government, in a bid to try their luck at finding the precious stone.
The diamond mining project is run by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) in Panna. Under this project, the public sector undertaking also leases out shallow mines to individuals, families, and co-operatives, who wish to find diamonds themselves, using basic tools and equipment.
Any finds made at the mines are then handed over to the government diamond office, where the stone is evaluated.
An official at the state government's diamond office, Anupam Singh told BBC that "These mines can be leased for for a specific period for about Rs 200-250.
In a similar incident, a labourer from Bundelkhand discovered a diamond worth Rs 15 million rupees in a Panna mine in 2018.
Singh stated that many people manage to find smaller-sized stones, but Gound's diamond was notable due to its big size.
'Had Heard Stories Of People Finding Diamonds'
The labourer told the BBC that his father had leased this mine around two months ago in Krishna Kalyanpur Patti village near Panna. Gound said that his family mostly leases mines in monsoon, when there is no masonry or agriculture work available.
"We are very poor and have no other source of income. So we do this in the hope of making some money," he stated.
He also told how he had heard stories of people who got lucky and found diamonds and had hoped to get lucky himself one day.
Searching diamonds manually is a tedious job, he said. Recounting how he chanced upon the stone that changed his life, he said that he had gone to the site on Wednesday to perform his daily task of searching for the stone.
"It's tedious work. We dig a pit, pull out chunks of soil and rock, wash them in a sieve and then carefully sift through thousands of dried, tiny stones to look for diamonds," he said.
As he was sifting through the stones, he saw something that resembled a piece of glass. "I held it up to my eyes and saw a faint glint. That's when I knew I had found a diamond," he added.
Gound then took it to the government diamond office to get it weighed and evaluated.
The labourer said that the diamond would be put up in the next government auction, following which he would receive his compensation. The government will deduct the royalty and taxes and hand over the amount to him after the precious stone is sold.
With the money he is hoping to get, Gound wishes to build a house for his family and pay for his children's education. However, he first wants to pay off his debt of Rs 5,00,000, BBC reported.
Gound also stated that he plans to divide the money between the 19 relatives who live with him and is thus not afraid of people finding out about the diamond. Happy to have changed his fortunes overnight, Gound plans to go back to the mine again tomorrow to continue his search for diamonds.
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