Thiruvananthapuram | The Vigilance Court here has sentenced eight officials, including the secretary and president of the Integrated Silk Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society, to 21 years of rigorous imprisonment each in a major fund embezzlement case, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) said on Saturday.

According to VACB, Thiruvananthapuram Taluk Integrated Silk Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society, located at Balaramapuram here, had received a Rs 2 crore loan from the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) between October 2009 and March 2010 for the development of the silk handloom industry.

VACB probe revealed that the accused fabricated documents and siphoned off Rs 1,15,45,612 from the sanctioned loan, the VACB statement said.

Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court Judge Manoj A found the society's secretary Majitha, president Surendran, board members Vijayakumari, Suresh, Shivarajan, Maniyan Nadar, Bijith Kumar, and chief promoter Mohanan guilty on Friday, VACB said.

They were sentenced to a total of 21 years of rigorous imprisonment under various sections, and were collectively fined Rs 1,17,85,612 and Rs 14,73,201.50 each, the VACB statement said. The court ruled that the sentences could be served concurrently.

According to VACB, the investigation revealed that the accused manipulated the membership register to show inflated member strength and submitted a falsified project report to obtain the loan. They later created fake purchase records to misappropriate the funds.

One of the accused, board member Gopala Panicker, passed away during the investigation, VACB said. Former Public Prosecutor and current legal advisor Ranjith Kumar LR, and Public Prosecutor Veena Satheesan, appeared for the Vigilance department during the trial of the case