Kerala MLA Antony Raju Guilty in Underwear Evidence Tampering Case

New Delhi (India) January 3: The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Nedumangadu, on Saturday (January 3, 2026) found the Thiruvananthapuram MLA guilty of having forged and planted the material evidence in a case of tampering of evidence two decades after a drug seizure case had been booked in 1990, as a major setback for Left front legislator and former Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju. The verdict is 19 years on from the chargesheet he has been presented with. 

Nedumangad Court Convicts Raju, Clerk Jose on IPC Charges

The court concluded that Raju had collaborated with a court employee, Jose, in altering key evidence at the Thiruvananthapuram District Court in a group of which he himself was an acting attorney and had therefore effectively rigged the final result of the case up in favour of his client. 

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 two or more people with the same object in mind) of IPC. 

The Court found one KJ Jose (a court clerk) guilty on the same penal charges. 

1990 Charas Smuggling: Aussie Cervelli Caught at Airport

Raju’s case was based on an event that occurred more than 35 years ago and when he was a youthful lawyer still unpacking his entry into heavy politics. Andrew Salvatore Cervelli, a man from Australia, was detained at the Thiruvananthapuram airport for supposedly smuggling 61.5 grams of charas using his underwear. 

Raju had previously given evidence to the trial court, which found the Australian man guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. 

Trial Court Jails Cervelli, But High Court Spots Misfit Underwear

But the story began to get strange after Cervelli appealed his case to the High Court. At this stage, the underwear in which those drugs were allegedly smuggled was discovered to be far too small to fit Cervelli. That also resulted in his acquittal from the case. 

A few years later, after Cervelli returned home, the investigating officer in the smuggling case came before the Kerala High Court seeking a probe to determine whether traces of tampering with the evidence were present. The investigating officer subsequently filed this plea on the basis of some information obtained through the Australian National Central Bureau. 

1994 FIR, 2006 Chargesheet, HC Quash & SC Revival in 2024

A criminal charge was also leveled against Raju and court clerk KJ Jose in 1994. In 2006, the Assistant Commissioner of Police filed a charge sheet for the first time in 12 years, before the magistrate court. Yet the Kerala High Court, in 2023, quashed the criminal proceedings on grounds that it was hit by the bar under Section 195(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 

The High Court had nonetheless ordered a de novo investigation to be commenced in accordance with the proper process. The Supreme Court reinstalled criminal proceedings in 2024 which were earlier quashed by the Kerala High Court.