A magistrate court in Kerala has delivered a significant verdict, convicting sitting legislator and former transport minister Antony Raju to three years of imprisonment for tampering with evidence in a narcotics case that dates back over three decades. The case, famously involving the alteration of a pair of underwear used to conceal drugs, has culminated in a conviction that now threatens Raju's political career.
The Verdict and Its Immediate Aftermath
The First Class Magistrate Court at Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram pronounced its judgment on Saturday, January 3, 2026. The court found Antony Raju, who was a practising lawyer in 1990, guilty of conspiring to tamper with material evidence. The evidence in question was a pair of underwear in which 61.5 grams of hashish was discovered from an Australian national at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on April 9, 1990.
Alongside the legislator, the court also convicted a court clerk, K Jose, sentencing him to three years of imprisonment for his complicity in the crime. However, in a procedural relief, the court granted both convicts bail for a period of one month, allowing them time to file an appeal against the conviction in a higher court.
The Bizarre Case of the "Shrinking" Underwear
The chain of events that led to this conviction is as unusual as it is serious. The case originated with the arrest of Andrew Salvatore Cervelli, an Australian citizen, at the Thiruvananthapuram airport in 1990. The hashish was found concealed in his underwear, which was then seized and produced as evidence by the prosecution. The trial court subsequently sentenced Cervelli to ten years of rigorous imprisonment.
The turning point came when Cervelli appealed to the Kerala High Court in 1993. His defence counsel successfully argued that the underwear presented as evidence was too small to fit the accused. This raised immediate suspicion of evidence tampering. A subsequent investigation by the state forensic laboratory confirmed the garment had been deliberately cut and re-stitched to reduce its size.
The police probe revealed that Antony Raju, who was representing Cervelli as his lawyer, had obtained the underwear from the court's custody with the alleged help of clerk K Jose. Raju returned the garment four months later, just before the High Court appeal was filed. Based on the police report, a case was registered against both Raju and Jose for tampering with evidence.
Political Fallout and Future Implications
The conviction carries severe political consequences for Antony Raju. He is currently the lone legislator of the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, an ally of the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), and represents the Thiruvananthapuram assembly constituency. As per law, his conviction in a criminal case where the sentence is more than two years will lead to his immediate disqualification as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).
Raju had served as the Transport Minister in the first half of the present LDF government. Notably, while contesting the 2021 assembly elections, he had disclosed this pending case in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission. The prosecution had charged Raju and Jose with a series of offences including criminal conspiracy, tampering with evidence, destruction of evidence, fabrication of false evidence, and misconduct by a public servant.
Although the chargesheet in this long-pending case was filed in the magistrate court back in 2013, the trial witnessed several delays. The recent verdict brings a dramatic close to a legal saga that has spanned 36 years, highlighting a severe breach of legal ethics and its enduring repercussions.
