Cricket coach gets 35-year RI in second sexual assault case

T’puram: A fast-track special court on Thursday sentenced a cricket coach to 35 years of rigorous imprisonment in the second of a series of sexual assault cases involving minor girl trainees.The court convicted Manu M (40), a native of Sreevaraham in Vallakkadavu, and imposed a fine of Rs 66,000. In default of payment, the accused will have to undergo an additional imprisonment of six years and nine months.Fast-track special court Judge Anju Meera Birla also found the accused guilty in a third case. The quantum of sentence in that case is expected to be pronounced on Saturday.The court directed that the sentence in the second case would commence only after the completion of the sentence awarded in the first case, in which the accused had already been convicted and sentenced by the same court last month.

The court also ordered that the sentences in each case should run consecutively.According to the prosecution, the survivor had joined a reputed cricket coaching centre in the city in 2018. After a few months, the coach allegedly sexually abused the girl on several occasions by taking her to the gym and bathrooms at the facility under the pretext of training.The prosecution further alleged that the accused had taken nude photographs and videos of the survivor and had threatened to ruin her cricket career if she disclosed the abuse.

Fearing repercussions, the victim remained silent and later shifted to another coaching centre in 2019.The abuse came to light in 2024 after another survivor, who encountered the accused during a girls’ cricket tournament in Thiruvananthapuram, raised an alarm. Subsequently, six cases were registered against the coach, four of which have already completed trials.Special public prosecutor R S Vijay Mohan appeared for prosecution.