Kozhikode: The bank manager who was arrested for stealing 26.24 kilograms of pledged gold from the Bank of Maharashtra's Vadakara branch sourced the imitation gold from Thrissur. The police have traced the jewellery shops in the district, from which the accused collected imitation gold,said Kozhikode Rural Superintendent of Police Nidhin Raj.

''At present the investigation team is in Tamil Nadu with the accused former manager Madha Jayakumar as part of evidence collection. They will be coming back on Saturday. He will remain in the police custody for two more days and after that he is to be produced before the court,'' he said.

''He was planning to invest the money in land and vehicles, but the police thwarted it by freezing the accounts connected to this,'' the SP said. Earlier the investigation team had seized the fake gold from the MahaBank's Vadakara branch.

The accused, who was on the run, was caught by the Karnataka police while trying to obtain a SIM card without an Aadhaar card from Humnabad, in Bidar district, which borders Telangana state. His wife and a friend were along with him. The local police and a team from the crime branch are investigating the case.