TIRUPPUR: A special team of Kerala police on Friday recovered 4.6 kg of gold jewels from two branches of a private bank in Tiruppur that were part of 26.8 kg of jewels stolen by the branch manager of nationalised bank in Kozhikode. The branch manager, S Matha Jayakumar (34) of Musiri in Tiruchy has been arrested but his accomplice is on the run
Police sources said Jayakumar was working as branch manager in Bank of Maharashtra at Edodi in Vadakara in Kozhikode for the past year. He was transferred to Ernakulam in July. Subsequently, an audit was conducted. It revealed that 26.8 kg of gold jewels, worth Rs 17.5 crore, that had been pledged by customers has been replaced with fake jewels.
Since Jayakumar did not report for work in Ernakulam, the bank officials lodged a complaint with Vadakara police. Investigation, revealed that Jayakumar was hiding in Telangana. A team from Kerala police arrested him two days ago. During interrogation, he said part of the jewels was pawned in two private bank branches in Tiruppur by his friend N Karthik (29) of KNP Colony in Chandrapuram.
Kerala Police arrived in Tiruppur with Jayakumar on Friday. But Karthik had gone into hiding. The police team went to the bank branch at Pushpa Junction where Karthik worked and also to the branch on Kangeyam Road and recovered 4.6 kg of gold jewels. They are looking for Karthik and for others related to the case. After taking possession of jewels, police took Jayakumar back to Kerala for further investigation.