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Kerala MLA Antony Raju Convicted of Evidence Tampering in 1990 Hashish Case

The Nedumangad magistrate ruled that the former transport minister tampered with court-kept material from a case he took on as a junior lawyer.

Overview

  • The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Nedumangad delivered the guilty verdict on January 3, 2026.
  • The case stems from the 1990 seizure of 61.5 grams of hashish from Australian citizen Andre Salvatore Cervelli at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.
  • Prosecutors said Raju conspired with a court official named Jose to alter material evidence stored in the magistrate’s court.
  • Cervelli’s sessions court conviction was overturned by the Kerala High Court in 1991 after it accepted a defense claim about the size of the alleged concealing innerwear.
  • Raju is a Janadhipathya Kerala Congress MLA in the LDF, and reports did not mention sentencing or next legal steps following the conviction.