The Indian gem and jewellery industry has been taken aback at the recent murder of a sales executive of Colour Source diamond company in Dubai’s Naif area. The victim was conducting a sales deal with two foreign clients, at a gold souq (open air market place for trading) in the Naif area, when the murderers throttled him in a toilet, reports say. Also, diamonds worth over Rs 8 crore are missing, reports say.

The police suspect this to be the act of some Armenian gang members, reports suggest.

Colour Source is owned by Vaibhav Solanki. Dubai has gained prominence over the years, to be a sought after hub for the diamond industry, and many leading Indian diamond companies have set up business operations in Dubai’s free zone in Jumeirah Lake Towers, reports say. For the incident to have occurred in Dubai has shocked the Indian industry, which has faced the brunt of increased diamond heists in Antwerp. In the recent past Antwerp had recorded a growing number of diamond heists and Indian diamantaires have also been targets of these, reports suggest.

While the police are yet to nail down all the culprits in the Dubai murder, reports suggest, one suspect has been arrested.

The executive of Colour Source was living in Dubai with his wife.