The Kerala High Court on Friday suspended the sentence of 10-year rigorous imprisonment awarded to two persons convicted by the Manjeri fast track court in the Chelembra bank robbery case.
Justice K Ramakrishnan, while suspending the sentence, also granted bail to them.
The court passed the order on the appeal filed by Kadayil Shibu alias Rakesh of Ollur and Nankaladath Radhakrishnan of Moodadi in Kozhikode.
The fast track court had awarded the sentence to three accused in the case. Prime accused Vaniyampurakkal Joseph, alias Jaison, alias Babu, of Kottayam, was also sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.
Fourth accused Kanakeswari, wife of Radhakrishnan, was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. About 80-kg gold and `25 lakh in cash were stolen from the Chelembra branch of the South Malabar Gramin Bank on December 30, 2007.
The accused entered the bank situated on the first floor of a building by drilling a hole into the roof of the ground floor. They used concrete cutters to drill the hole from inside a closed restaurant on the ground floor.
The police arrested the accused from Kozhikode on February 27, 2008.