With this, 17 people from the diamond industry have committed suicide in the last couple of months in Surat. Officials at the Labour department have also started investigations into the deaths of the diamond workers.

Police sources said Ashok Khat, a diamond polisher working with Harekrishna Exports at Varachha Road, committed suicide by consuming poison at his house in Vikramnagar society at Punagam.

Khat's wife found him lying unconscious on the floor, following which he was rushed to the Surat Municipal Corporation-run SMIMMER hospital. Khat was declared dead by the doctors after primary treatment.

The Punagam police rushed to the hospital after learning about the incident and started investigations.

After recording statements of the family members of the deceased, the police learnt that Khat came to Surat from Junagadh some 10 years ago and was working as a diamond polisher. He, however, was jobless for the last three months.

"Primary investigations have shown that the deceased was jobless for the last three months. Moreover, the factory where he was working in between shutdown after being operational for a few days. Khat might have gone under depression and took the drastic step," said Sub-Inspector P K Katara of Punagam police station.

Meanwhile, officials of the Labour department visited the houses of the nine diamond polishers who had committed suicide.

The officials aim to find out the exact reason that drove the diamond workers to take such an extreme step.

The move comes after the district collector intimated the Labour department to investigate into the deaths of the diamond polishers.

Different teams of department officials were sent to the Varachha and Kapdoara areas on Monday.