Three-year jail term for Kerala MLA Antony Raju in tampering with evidence case

In a setback to former Kerala Transport Minister and ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) legislator Antony Raju, a court in Thiruvananthapuram sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment for tampering with evidence related to a drug seizure case.

The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Nedumangadu, on Saturday (January 3, 2025) found him guilty of forging and planting material evidence following the drug seizure case booked in 1990.

Mr. Raju, a leader of the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, an LDF ally, will be disqualified as an MLA on account of his conviction. Under the Representation of the People Act, membership of the Legislative Assembly will be terminated if a court sentences a member to two years’ imprisonment or more. Although the court sentenced him to three years in jail, he was granted bail and one month’s time to appeal against the verdict.

The verdict comes 19 years after the chargesheet was filed against him. Mr. Raju was a junior lawyer appearing in the 1990 drug case involving an Australian national, Andrew Salvatore. It was alleged that Mr. Raju tampered with the Australian national’s undergarment, which was seized as material evidence. An FIR was filed in the evidence tampering case in 1994.

The court sentenced the first accused in the case, court clerk K.S. Jose, and Mr. Raju to three years of simple imprisonment upon finding them guilty of offences under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 193 (fabricating false evidence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were also slapped with a penalty of ₹10,000 each. A fine of ₹5,000 and one-year imprisonment was additionally slapped on first accused Jose under Section 409 of IPC.

The court sentenced them to six months’ imprisonment for criminal conspiracy, three years and a fine of ₹10,000 for destruction of evidence, and three years for fabricating false evidence. All sentences will run concurrently, the judge stated in the order. The court also rejected the prosecution’s request to shift the case to the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court.

Though the court found them guilty of charges such as breach of trust by government officials, criminal conspiracy, tampering with evidence, destruction of evidence, fabrication of false evidence, misconduct by a public servant, and fabrication of a forged document, which can attract punishment up to life imprisonment, the Magistrate Court can only sentence an accused to a maximum of three years. It was against this backdrop that the prosecution requested the case to be shifted to the court of the CJM, which was later rejected by the trial court, according to the assistant public prosecutor who appeared for the prosecution in the case.

Mr. Salvatore was caught with narcotics hidden in a pocket of his undergarment during frisking at the Thiruvananthapuram airport while on his way to Mumbai in April 1990. His personal belongings and articles seized by the police were then kept in the safe custody of the court of the Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram. Later, Mr. Salvatore applied to the court for the release of his personal belongings. Acting on the plea, his personal belongings were released to Mr. Raju, who was then a junior counsel, by the court clerk.

The underwear, a material exhibit in the case, was also allegedly handed over to Mr. Raju along with the other personal articles. The underwear was later returned to the safe custody of the court, and Mr. Salvatore was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

However, Mr. Salvatore subsequently appealed against his conviction in the Kerala High Court, where the underwear was subjected to a “practical test” during the hearing. During the test, the underwear allegedly returned by Mr. Raju did not fit Mr. Salvatore as it was not his size, leading to the acquittal of the accused in February 1991.

However, a vigilance inquiry led to the registration of an FIR against the court clerk, Mr. Jose and Mr. Raju in 1994, accusing them of having conspired to cause the disappearance of evidence. The FIR said Mr. Raju made “alterations” to ensure that the underwear did not fit Salvatore. However, the Kerala High Court, in 2023, quashed the criminal proceedings on technical grounds, which was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2024 while restoring the criminal proceedings against Mr. Raju.