The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Daily wager digs up diamond worth Rs 1.5 crore in MP’s Panna

    Synopsis

    The 30-year-old, Motilal Prajapati, who toils on minimum wages to feed his family, has dug up the second biggest diamond ever to be found in Panna, MP.

    diamond-mine-etTHE ECONOMIC TIMES
    The sparkler he found weighs 42.9 carat.
    (This story originally appeared in on Oct 09, 2018)
    Daily wager Motilal Prajapati holds up his Diwali sparkle — all Rs 1.5 crore of it — and says, “Mazaa aa gaya.” The 30-year-old, who toils on minimum wages to feed his family, has dug up the second biggest diamond ever to be found in Panna, MP.

    “The sparkler he found weighs 42.9 carat. The heaviest one ever found in Panna weighed 44.55 carat and it was dug up in 1961,” said Santosh Singh, diamond officer of Panna, adding: “The gem has been valued at over Rs 1.5 crore. We will auction it.” The government takes about 12% royalty, but that still makes Motilal a crorepati. He had taken an 8mx8m patch on lease in Patti village, 45 days ago. Scores come to try their luck in the diamond mines of Panna — you can hire a 64 sqm patch for just Rs 250 a year and try your luck. But very rarely does anyone get lucky. The last time it happened was in July 2017 when a farmer found a 5.8 carat diamond, valued then at Rs 20 lakh.


    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more

    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in