Throughout the world, Surat is known as the Diamond City.
The rough diamonds that are mined...
in Africa, Russia, Australia...
are polished here in Surat's factories.
There are approximately one million people associated with the diamond industry here.
Almost 90% of the world's diamonds are polished in Surat
and the polished diamonds are then exported
all over the world from here.
In this industry, you get to know what a person is like
from the way they talk and the way they pay.
So, when I realized he wasn't good with payments
and wasn't behaving properly,
I completely stopped doing business with him.
Some continued, I'm not saying no one did business with him,
but, I guess, there are all types.
Nirav Modi's factory employed about 1,800 to 2,000 people.
It was a jewelry factory.
And the way Nirav worked was he would pay people with cash.
He would buy stock with cash and give people advance cash payments.
As a business person starting a new business,
if they are behaving responsibly and they are paying people properly,
this is how Nirav was able to create a unique image for himself.
I went to Firestar to be trained
in 2007 in Nirav Modi's factory.
That was my first job.
The conditions there were unlike anywhere else -
there was a creche, subsidized restaurant, a doctor was provided.
Nirav Modi did a lot for the poor.
He talked to everyone,
he had no arrogance about being a big factory owner.
He talked to his employees.
Nirav Modi was like a God to us.
Nirav sir is the "Diamond King".
Basically, I'm a clerk...
and this was the first job I had in my life,
so it was a special kind of happiness.
A desk clerk is a junior role, a single window operator.
Data entry, only data entry.
There was a huge amount of work to do in Brady House.
There were around 30 to 40 payments to be put through each day,
and on average seven to eight Letters of Undertaking.
Firestar Diamonds was a company name that I knew,
all the documents would come to me.
To me, it didn't look like anything suspicious was going on.
My senior would give me the order to do this work.
How could I not do it?
I was there the day it shut down.
We were sent away after a half day,
but were not told why it was being shut down
or why we were going home.
We got to know later, there was some scam with the Punjab National Bank
through the TV.
When the factory closed, I didn't leave the house for a month.
To me, it felt like it must be when a person has a heart attack.
That's what it felt like.
Nirav sir leaving meant that our support system had gone.
When they arrested me,
even then, I didn't understand what was going on.
I was in police custody for 14 days.
After that, I was in jail for three months.
Being in jail, it was another hell...
it was a terrifying place.
I wasn't made for it.
I am getting goosebumps just thinking about it.
I could never do something like this or even think about it.
I did the work, I'm not denying it,
but you need to look at the environment.
The document would come to Gokulnath Shetty from the customer,
and then he would give it to me.
I did not have the power to authorize anything in my role.
I didn't know what was going on.
I'd just done my work sincerely,
but I was set up.
I was set up.
We never felt that Nirav sir could do something like this,
that he'd take the money and run, we never thought that,
because he was giving the poor a living.
He was like a God, if a God helps his followers earn a living.
There is no one else to support me, it's all down to me.
Now, the situation is such that we can't provide for our children.
That's what our situation has become now.
I pray every day that our factory starts again...
and Nirav sir comes back.
Wherever he is, he should come back,
and he should think about whether the workers have to be paid or not.
He should pay the workers.
If he pays everyone,
then there will be more blessings for Firestar to start again.
After this, my life has collapsed.
I am half dead.
I am from...
a very common...
a very common family.
I had no one to ask for help.