Madhya Pradesh: Panna farmer finds Rs 60 lakh diamond in patch he leased for Rs 200
A farmer in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal has found a 14.98-carat diamond in a 10x10 patch of land that he had taken on lease last month for just Rs 200, The TOI reported. The diamond was auctioned for Rs 60.6 lakh on Saturday, it said. Identified as Lakhan Yadav, the 45-year-old farmer said the incident has changed his life.
Yadav found the diamond while he scooped up a handful of earth, stones and pebbles, but found one that looked different. It shone when he rubbed the dust off it. Yadav then took it to the district diamond officer, who confirmed that it was a diamond.
Commenting on how Yadav intends to go about with the diamond and the money, Yadav said, “I will not go for anything big. I am not an educated person and I’ll put the money in a fixed deposit to ensure my four kids get a good education.”
Going by the report, Yadav was evicted from Panna National Park when villages were removed.
Yadav has now bought a motorcycle with the first Rs 1 lakh he got after depositing the diamond with the district administration.
“I hope to get another diamond. I’ll work on it for a few more months, perhaps get the lease renewed,” he said.
This is not the first incident of a farmer finding diamonds in fields. Earlier in November, a 24-year-old man became a millionaire overnight after unearthing a 6.92-carat diamond, valued at Rs 30 lakh, from a mine in Madhya Pradesh.
The man, Sandeep Yadav, a police service aspirant, had taken the mine on lease from the government after recruitment in the police force was deferred due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown.
The precious stone found by Yadav can fetch around Rs 30 lakh in the market, local diamond inspector Anupam Singh said.
Panna, a district in the impoverished Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, is known for its diamond mines.
In fact, Sandeep Yadav was the fourth person to hit the jackpot in the last 30 days in the district.
Earlier, three persons had found diamonds from mines.
