Former Kerala minister Antony Raju has been disqualified from the Legislative Assembly after his conviction in a long-pending case involving the alleged tampering of evidence linked to a 1990 narcotics seizure at Thiruvananthapuram airport. The disqualification came into effect following a formal communication from the Speaker’s office, which stated that Raju ceased to be an MLA under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, in line with established Supreme Court rulings.
As a result of this decision, the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency has been declared vacant with effect from January 3, 2026. The action follows a verdict delivered on January 3 by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I in Nedumangad, which found Raju guilty of manipulating material evidence while he was practising as a junior lawyer more than three decades ago. The court sentenced him to three years of simple imprisonment, a punishment that automatically triggered his disqualification from the legislature.
The origins of the case go back to 1990, when an Australian citizen, Andrew Salvatore Cervelli, was arrested at Thiruvananthapuram airport on charges of attempting to smuggle narcotics concealed in his undergarments. Antony Raju had appeared as part of the defence team for the accused during the trial. While a sessions court initially convicted Cervelli, the case took a dramatic turn at the Kerala High Court.
The High Court later acquitted Cervelli, observing that the underwear produced as evidence was unusually small and unlikely to belong to the accused. The court raised serious doubts about the integrity of the evidence and suspected that it may have been altered. Based on these observations, the High Court ordered a vigilance inquiry into possible manipulation of the material objects produced before the court.
Investigators later alleged that Raju had conspired with a court clerk, identified as K Jose, to tamper with the evidence. According to the prosecution, the undergarment was removed from the court’s material objects room, altered to reduce its size, and then placed back into the records ahead of the High Court hearing. An FIR was registered in 1994 against both Raju and the clerk, accusing them of criminal conspiracy and tampering with evidence under the Indian Penal Code.
The case then entered a prolonged legal limbo, moving slowly through the courts for several years. In March 2023, the Kerala High Court quashed the proceedings on technical grounds, holding that the police lacked the authority to investigate alleged tampering of evidence that was already in court custody.
However, this relief proved temporary. In November 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the High Court’s decision, revived the criminal proceedings, and directed the trial court to complete the case within a year. During the trial, the prosecution examined 29 witnesses before the magistrate court delivered its final verdict.
The court ultimately convicted both Antony Raju and the former court clerk. While K Jose was sentenced to one year in prison, Raju was handed multiple sentences, with the most severe being three years of imprisonment. Following the conviction, Raju was granted bail to allow him to challenge the verdict before a higher court.
Raju has consistently denied any wrongdoing and maintained that the case was politically motivated. He has argued that earlier vigilance and police investigations conducted during the tenure of the AK Antony government had found no evidence against him. Representing the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, a constituent of the ruling Left Democratic Front, Raju was elected from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. His disqualification now paves the way for a by-election, with the seat officially falling vacant after his conviction.
