Indebted Indian laborer finds life-changing $100,000 diamond
A debt-ridden laborer in central India said his family’s life has been “changed forever” after he unearthed a 19.22-carat diamond worth almost $100,000.
Raju Gond normally makes about $4 a day taking whatever work comes his way to provide for his large family, working in fields or diamond mines in his home state of Madhya Pradesh, or as a tractor driver for a wealthier farmer.
But the 40-year-old and his younger brother Rakesh sometimes pay $9.50 a day to dig for gold in a 64-square-meter (690-square-foot) plot of government land.
And it was there that he made his fortuitous find. After laying his hands on the stone on Wednesday, he said, his heart raced as he cleaned the dirt off it. With every stroke of his finger, the stone shone brighter and brighter.
“It shone spectacularly; I knew it was a diamond right then!” an audibly delighted Gond told CNN from his home in Panna district.
He and Rakesh hugged and jumped in delight. They got onto their bike and hurtled 7 miles (11 kilometers) back home from the shallow mine in Krishna Kalyanpur to share the news with their family. They then took their mother along to the local Panna Diamond Office to have the stone evaluated.