Underwear evidence tampering case: Kerala Court convicts MLA Antony Raju

A Kerala Court on Saturday convicted Member of Legislative Assembly and former Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju in the 33-year-old  underwear evidence-tampering case.

The Nedumangadu Judicial First Class Magistrate Court- I found Raju guilty under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 193 (fabricating false evidence), 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (criminal acts done by several people with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Court also found one KJ Jose, who was a court clerk, guilty under the same penal provisions.

Raju is the leader of the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress party, which is part of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) coalition in Kerala. He was also Kerala's Transport Minister until a cabinet reshuffle in 2023.

The case against Raju stemmed from an incident that took place over 35 years ago, when he had not yet made his foray into serious politics and was a young lawyer.

An Australian man named Andrew Salvatore Cervelli had been arrested at the Thiruvananthapuram airport for allegedly smuggling 61.5 grams of charas by concealing it in his underwear. Raju represented Cervelli first before the trial court, which eventually convicted and sentenced the Australian man to 10 years imprisonment.

The case, however, took an odd turn when it reached the High Court on an appeal by Cervelli.

The underwear in which the drugs were allegedly smuggled was, at this stage, found to have been way too small to fit Cervelli. This also led to his acquittal from the case.

A few years later, after Cervelli returned to his home country, the investigating officer in the smuggling case approached the Kerala High Court seeking a probe to find out if there was any evidence tampering.

The investigating officer filed this plea based on certain information received from the Australian National Central Bureau,

A criminal complaint was then registered against Raju and court clerk KJ Jose in 1994. After 12 years, in 2006, the Assistant Commissioner of Police filed a charge sheet before the magistrate court.

The High Court, however, quashed trial court proceedings on a technical ground in March last year. Pertinently, the High Court clarified that its order would not be a bar on pursuing prosecution as per the provisions of Section 195(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The High Court went one step further and ordered its Registry itself to initiate proceedings, paving the way for the trial court at Thiruvananthapuram to restart criminal proceedings against Raju.

Raju then moved the Supreme Court for relief in light of a Thiruvananthapuram court initiating proceedings against him in the case. However, in November 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed his petition and officially restored criminal proceedings against Raju.

The trial court then resumed proceedings culminating in Raju's conviction today.

Detailed judgment awaited.