A fast-track special court in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday sentenced 40-year-old cricket coach Manu M to 28 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹54,000 in the fourth case related to the sexual abuse of a minor girl.

Delivering the verdict, special court Judge Anju Meera Birla said that the sentence in this case will begin only after the completion of the jail terms awarded in the three earlier cases. 

With this conviction, Manu, a native of Vallakkadavu, Sreevaraham, has been sentenced in four of the total six cases so far. Altogether, he has received 127 years of imprisonment and fines amounting to ₹2.23 lakh. However, he will only have to serve 42 years of imprisonment in total. 

The incident pertaining to this case happened in June 2018, when the girl joined cricket coaching. After a few days of training, the accused allegedly took her to a gym and later to a bathroom on the pretext of fitness training, where she was sexually abused. It was alleged that the accused took nude photographs of the child, claiming it was part of a fitness assessment.

The survivor later fell into depression and stopped attending coaching sessions in 2021. Traumatised by the abuse, she also attempted suicide and subsequently underwent psychiatric treatment. According to the prosecution, the child remained silent about the abuse as the accused had threatened to ruin her cricketing career.

The abuse finally came to light during a girls' cricket tournament in Thiruvananthapuram in 2024, when one of the survivors panicked upon seeing the accused after several years. After the first complaint was filed, other survivors also came forward.

Her subsequent complaint gave other girls the courage to come forward, leading to six registered cases against the coach. He has now been convicted in four cases, while the trial in the remaining two cases will begin after the scientific examination reports are received.