Kozhikode: A portion of the gold stolen by the former manager of Bank of Maharashtra's Vadakara branch has been recovered. Out of the 26.24 kg of gold missing from the bank, 4.5 kg was recovered from two branches of a private bank in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu.

The police said the accused bank manager, Madhu Jayakumar, had pawned the gold in the bank. The police said Jayakumar used the amount he collected from pawning the gold for online trading. The recovery was made by a team from the Vadakara Police and officers in the state Crime Branch.

Jayakumar was remanded to police custody last Wednesday. He was arrested by the Telangana Police from Humnabad in Bidar.

Jayakumar worked in the Vadakara branch for three years and left after he was transferred to the Kochi branch of the Bank of Maharashtra. He is accused of stealing gold worth Rs 17 crore and replacing it with fake jewellery. The gold had been pawned at the branch by a private financial organisation in the name of 42 account holders.