Kozhikode (Kerala): The accused in a major gold theft at the Bank of Maharashtra's Vadakara branch was apprehended from Telangana on Sunday. The accused Madha Jayakumar was arrested after Kerala Police officials had notified other states of the case.
Sources told ETV Bharat that Jayakumar, 34, is currently in the custody of Telangana police and a team of Kerala Police officials is on their way to the southern state to formalize his arrest.
Police officials in Telangana had received a tip-off about the accused bank manager's presence in the state. As reported by ETV Bharat earlier, Madha Jayakumar allegedly siphoned off 26 kilograms of gold worth more than Rs 17 crore pledged in the Bank of Maharashtra branch in Kerala's Kozhikode.
He had allegedly replaced the same with fake gold. Jayakumar, a resident of Mettupalayam Pathi Street in Tamil Nadu, served as the manager of the Bank of Maharashtra's Vadakara branch. His alleged crime was discovered during a re-appraisal process at the branch.
The fraudulent activity involved replacing the genuine gold pledged by customers with counterfeit gold. The irregularity was found by V Irshad, the newly appointed manager, who immediately lodged a complaint with the Vadakara police. In turn, they registered a case based on the complaint.
Jayakumar, who had been the manager of the Vadakara branch for the past three years, was recently transferred to the Palarivattam branch in Ernakulam in July but failed to take charge. The missing gold was linked to 42 accounts pledged by customers between June 13 and July 6, 2024, prompting an investigation led by Vadakara Circle Inspector Sunil Kumar. A case was registered under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code.
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