Police in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, have registered an FIR against the manager and employees of a Malabar Gold & Diamonds showroom following allegations that a 22-carat gold bracelet was repeatedly shown as 20-carat on the showroom’s testing machine before registering the correct purity after an alleged adjustment to the machine’s settings.
The case concerns a 22-carat, HUID-hallmarked gold bracelet that was allegedly shown to have lower purity when a customer approached the showroom for an exchange. Police have seized the gold-testing machine and digital video recorder (DVR) as part of the investigation.
The FIR was registered by Tarbahar Police on August 15, 2026, at 6:27 pm, under Sections 318(4) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which relate to cheating and acts committed by several persons in furtherance of a common intention.
🚨SHOCKING – FIR against Malabar:
A man walked into a Malabar Gold showroom in Bilaspur with a simple request: exchange his old 22-carat HUID-hallmarked bracelet.
The staff ran it through their XRF machine. Once. Twice. Three times.
Every reading came back the same: 20 carat.
They even told him the hallmark didn’t exist.He called the local jeweller who had sold him the bracelet. The jeweller walked in, confirmed the HUID, and asked them to test it again.
Same machine. Same bracelet. Same room.This time an employee adjusted something on the machine. Suddenly the reading flipped to 916 – pure 22 carat.
The jeweller recorded everything. The Sarafa Association arrived. Police registered an FIR against the showroom manager and the machine operator. The machine and DVR were seized.
This wasn’t a small local shop. This was Malabar Gold “the chain that advertises trust, purity, and BIS standards across India”.
One bracelet. Two readings. An 8% gap in gold value. And the only thing that changed was who was watching.
If a hallmarked piece can magically lose two carats the moment a customer wants to exchange it, and magically regain them the moment someone pushes back, what exactly is the machine testing?
Customers don’t walk into Malabar expecting a calibration error that only appears when they’re selling gold.
They walk in expecting the purity printed on their receipt.The FIR is real.
The readings are on record.
The machine was seized.Malabar still hasn’t explained why the same piece of gold needed a “setting” before it became 22 carat again.
Until they do, this isn’t a machine glitch.
It’s a business model. https://t.co/28RXaSfC4q— Sandeep Phogat (@MrSandeepPhogat) October 26, 2026
How the Dispute Began
According to the FIR, the incident began on August 14, when Parvinder Singh approached the Malabar Gold & Diamonds showroom with a 22-carat gold bracelet purchased from SK Jewellers in Bilaspur. He reportedly wanted to exchange the ornament.
The showroom employees allegedly tested the bracelet using the store’s gold-purity testing machine, also referred to as a caratometer or X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyser. The machine reportedly showed the bracelet as 20-carat gold instead of 22-carat.
The employees allegedly also told the customer that the bracelet did not have a HUID marking.
Following this, Sagar Keshari, who runs SK Jewellers, examined the bracelet and found the HUID marking. He then accompanied Singh to the Malabar showroom to question the test results.
Same Bracelet, Different Purity Readings
According to the complaint, Keshari initially presented himself as an ordinary customer. The bracelet was reportedly tested two to three times, with the machine repeatedly displaying a purity of 20 carats.
The showroom personnel allegedly maintained that they relied on their machine’s readings rather than accepting the purity claimed on the basis of a hallmark or HUID marking.
Keshari then identified himself as the jeweller who had sold the bracelet and explained that his father had sold the ornament as 22-carat, HUID-hallmarked gold.
The complaint alleges that another employee subsequently performed an operation or adjustment on the testing machine. When the same bracelet was tested again, the machine reportedly displayed a reading of 916, corresponding to 22-carat gold.
The alleged change in readings forms the central issue in the case. Investigators will need to establish why the machine initially displayed 20-carat purity and subsequently showed 916 for the same ornament, including whether the discrepancy resulted from an adjustment, a technical malfunction or any deliberate manipulation.
Police Seize Testing Machine and DVR
The complaint sought an investigation into the two sets of test readings, the technical condition and settings of the machine, the testing procedure followed by the showroom and the CCTV footage from August 14.
It also called for scrutiny of whether similar discrepancies might have affected other customers.
Tarbahar Police registered the FIR against the showroom manager, the caratometer operator and other employees named in the case. The police seized the relevant gold-testing machine and DVR-related records for examination.
The investigation is expected to examine the machine’s operation, the circumstances surrounding the alleged change in readings and the available electronic evidence.
Sarafa Association Protests
The incident also triggered a protest at the showroom led by Kamal Soni, president of the Chhattisgarh Sarafa Association.
Soni demanded an independent investigation, arguing that inconsistent purity readings could cause financial losses to customers and undermine the credibility of traditional jewellers.
Gold purity is a critical factor in determining the value of an ornament. A 22-carat ornament contains approximately 91.6% gold, while 20-carat gold contains approximately 83.3% gold. If a 22-carat ornament were incorrectly assessed as 20-carat during an exchange, the lower valuation could affect the amount offered to the customer.
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