KOCHI: The High Court upheld the imprisonment of Sasikumar, who was earlier found guilty in a case of forging loan documents and siphoning Rs 17.11 lakh from deposits. Sasikumar was the former secretary of Thiruvananthapuram Service Cooperative Bank. A total of Four cases were registered in connection with extortion of money from five investors. In each case, the Vigilance Court of Thiruvananthapuram had awarded two years imprisonment and a fine of two lakh rupees each for financial manipulation and official malfeasance.

It was at this stage that Sasikumar moved to the High Court with an appeal. However, Justice Kauser Edappagath upheld the vigilance court order but clarified that the sentence in all four cases should be served together. With this, the prison sentence will be reduced to two years. The High Court granted relaxation considering the fact that the accused is 68 years old and has health problems including a kidney ailment.

It was during 1994-98 times that Sasikumar committed fraud while serving as the secretary in the service cooperative bank. The case alleges financial fraud by forging the loan application, repayment bond, and loan acceptance receipt of the investors. The fraud was discovered during the internal auditing of the bank. The bank clerk, who was the second accused in the fraud, died during the trial.