Antony Raju Found Guilty in Three-Decade-Old Evidence Tampering Case
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala – MLA Antony Raju has been found guilty by the Nedumangad Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Thiruvananthapuram in a three-decade-old evidence tampering case. The verdict comes 19 years after the charge sheet was filed, and a sentence is anticipated soon.
Antony Raju, who is the second accused in the case, faces serious charges that could lead to life imprisonment. He has been convicted under various sections, including criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy, cheating, destruction of evidence, creating false evidence, conspiracy with common intent, violation of law by a public servant, and forgery.
The specific sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which Raju was found guilty include 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, punishable with imprisonment for life or up to ten years), 120B (Criminal conspiracy), 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender), 193 (Punishment for false evidence), and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). While sections 420, 468, and 371 are deemed unlikely to stand, the conviction under sections 120B, 201, 193, 409, and 34 is significant.
A conviction under Section 409 with a sentence exceeding two years would result in the revocation of Antony Raju’s legislative assembly membership. Furthermore, if the High Court does not stay the sentence, he would be rendered ineligible to contest future assembly elections.
The intricate case dates back to 1990 when Australian citizen Andrew Salvator Cervelli was apprehended at Thiruvananthapuram airport. He was found to be in possession of 61.5 grams of hashish, concealed within a secret pocket of the dark blue underwear he was wearing. Antony Raju, then a junior advocate, represented Cervelli.
The Sessions Court initially convicted Cervelli and sentenced him to ten years imprisonment. However, in 1991, the Kerala High Court acquitted him. The acquittal was primarily based on the defense’s assertion that the underwear presented as evidence was too small for the accused. The High Court, during the appeal, noted that the garment did not fit Cervelli, which raised strong suspicions of evidence tampering.
Subsequent investigations uncovered a conspiracy between Antony Raju and K. Jose, a court clerk. It was found that Raju allegedly obtained the underwear from the court’s material objects room and deliberately altered it by cutting it shorter during the High Court hearing. He then returned the modified garment four months later, ensuring it would not fit his client, thus supporting the defense’s argument.
The case gained substantial momentum when Interpol informed Indian authorities that Cervelli had confessed to the tampering while serving a sentence in an Australian prison for an unrelated crime. An FIR was officially registered in 1994, and a charge sheet detailing charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and destruction of evidence against Raju was filed in 2014.