In a dazzling twist of fortune, a 40-year-old Madhya Pradesh labourer has struck gold — more precisely, a 19.22-carat diamond worth nearly $100,000 (around Rs 83.7 lakh) — while digging on a modest 64 sqm plot at a state-owned mine.
Debt-ridden Raju Gond, who normally makes around Rs 350 a day by whatever work comes his way to provide for his large family, told CNN that his life has “changed forever” after the precious find.
It all started two months ago, when monsoons descended upon the region, washing away many work opportunities.
Rather than sit at home, Gond and his brother Rakesh felt compelled to search for diamonds at 64 square meter plot of government land at a shallow mine in Krishna Kalyanpur where they sometimes paid $9.50 a day to get the work.
“What we have to do is fill in a form, give identification proof, provide photos and pay 800 rupees ($9.50) to the government,” Gond told CNN.
“When we are done searching there we can apply again to search for diamonds on another patch of land,” he added.
It was there that luck struck. On Wednesday, as he uncovered the stone, he said, his heart raced as he cleaned the dirt off it. With every stroke of his finger, the stone shone brighter and brighter, reported CNN.
“It shone spectacularly; I knew it was a diamond right then!” CNN quoted Gond as saying from his home in Panna district.
Overwhelmed with joy, he and Rakesh hugged each other with excitement before racing 11 km home on their bike from the mine to share the incredible news with their family. They then brought their mother to the local Panna Diamond Office to have the stone evaluated.
According to CNN, Anupam Singh, the diamond examiner, carefully weighed the gem and confirmed that it was indeed a white diamond.
“This is a white diamond of 19.22 carat,” he told CNN, as he valued it at about $95,500.
Singh noted that Panna’s reputation for extraordinary diamond finds remains strong.
“In 1961 someone found a 54.55-carat diamond, then in 2018 someone found a 42-carat diamond, and now this,” he said, adding that smaller diamonds were also found earlier this year.
Singh said the government leases shallow mines to families who want to look for the gemstones, under the supervision of local officials. The government takes an 11.5% royalty for any find, plus a small tax, and gives the remaining amount to the person who found it.
The diamond office will wait for the value of its inventory to exceed $360,000 before holding an auction, Singh said, after which Gond will receive his payout.
“Right now, we have diamonds worth half that amount,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gond has already started planning for the future. He has opened a bank account and is eagerly waiting for the money to be credited.
“The first thing I’ll do is pay back debt of ($6,000). Then we will invest in all children getting educated, building homes, buy some land and maybe a tractor too,” he told CNN.
Lately, he said, it has been hard to make ends meet. His family includes his parents, wife, seven children, and the families of his younger brother and sister.
When he was growing up, his father and grandfathers would tell Gond stories of people who found diamonds in the soil, “and how the fate of the family had changed after that.” Today, he says, he has his own story to share.
And on Friday, the brothers were back at the mine.
“We woke up early and got out again,” Gond told CNN. “We are already in the shallow mine. We will find more diamonds!”
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Madhya Pradesh labourer digs $100,000 diamond from govt land. Can he keep it?
