Anand DSP Pravin Sinha said cases were registered against them in 20 villages of seven districts. Those arrested are Girish alias Dilip alias Suresh alias Kirit alias Narendra alias Prakash alias Navnit Ambalal Valand 945) and his two sons Vijay alias Raju alias Atul Girishbhai Valand (19) and Bharat alias Nilesh alias Navnitbhai Girishbhai Valand (22) and wife of Girishbhai, Ilaben alias Kailash alias Sharda alias Sushilaben.

They were arrested from Sarangpur in Anand district. Sinha said that the four stayed in a village on rent and identified themselves as builders and carried out loots in the villages. They purchased two `Pukhraj Guru Diamonds' valued about Rs 4.16 lakh from Pravin A Patel and Dinesh Pravin Patel of Mejpur in Khambhatt Taluka on October 2, 1998. The family left the village the next day itself. The case was handed over to the local Crime Branch and the teams visited several places and conducted raids.

Later, acting on a tip-off, the police team raided Sarangpur and arrested the four persons. Police said during preliminary investigations it was revealed that they were also involved in stealing televisions, refrigerators and other electronic items from a showroom. The police also recovered the four diamonds and other items worth lakhs of rupees.

Girish Ambalal and his wife were both residents of Borsad taluka and had left their village in 1980. Ever since 1983 they were involved in various crimes. The police had even declared them as most wanted criminals. Sinha said that the family members were also wanted in a kidnap case in Surashmal.