34-sovereign gold bar seized from teacher-turned-thief

Coimbatore: The Thudiyalur police on Wednesday recovered a 34-sovereign gold bar from an unemployed postgraduate, who had turned to a life of crime five years ago.
P Manoj, 33, of Amman Street at Omalur in Salem, holds an MA in English and had completed BEd, sub-inspector Franklin Utro Wilson told TOI. “He used to take tuition for school students in Salem, but wanted money to lead a lavish life. So, he involved in burglary, dacoity and chain snatching from 2015,” he said.
Manoj and his two accomplices broke open a house at GN Mills in Coimbatore and looted 15 sovereigns of gold ornaments on August 17, 2019. They also decamped with 17 sovereigns of gold ornaments from a house at Kavundampalayam. In February, they stole two sovereigns of gold ornaments from a house at Thadagam.
The Thudiyalur police had arrested Manoj’s accomplice T Nandakumar, 44, of Karur on September 3 after the duo snatched a seven-sovereign gold chain from a woman at Kavundampalayam on August 8.
Police recovered the stolen chain from Nandakumar, who revealed the involvement of Manoj and another Madurai-based person. Police arrested Manoj and recovered a 272-gram gold ingot and a stolen motorcycle from him. The miscreants had melted stolen gold to make the ingot, the inspector said.
Manoj, who was involved in several cases in Coimbatore, Namakkal, Karur, Salem and Madurai districts, had befriend Nandakumar while he was lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison.
Police are on the lookout for Manoj’s Madurai-based accomplice.