Former Kerala Minister Antony Raju Convicted in Drug Evidence Tampering Case

Antony Raju, former Kerala transport minister, has been convicted by a court for tampering with evidence in a 1990 drug seizure case. The case involved 61.5 grams of hashish seized from an Australian citizen. Raju, then a junior lawyer, conspired with a court official to alter evidence.

On Saturday, a Kerala court found former state transport minister Antony Raju guilty of tampering with evidence in a 1990 drug seizure case. The current MLA of Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, aligned with LDF, was convicted by the Nedumangad Judicial First Class Magistrate.

The case involved the seizure of 61.5 grams of hashish from an Australian national at Thiruvananthapuram international airport. Raju, who represented the accused as a junior lawyer at the time, was implicated in a conspiracy to alter evidence alongside court official Jose.

This conviction comes after the initial accused, Andre Salvatore Cervelli, was acquitted by the Kerala High Court in 1991 due to doubts about the evidence's validity—specifically, the size of contraband-concealing innerwear.

(With inputs from agencies.)