Antony Raju's lawyer membership should be cancelled; complaint to Bar Council Chairman

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A complaint has been filed with the Kerala Bar Council Chairman seeking cancellation of Antony Raju MLA's lawyer membership. The Nedumangad Magistrate's Court had sentenced Antony Raju to three years in prison for evidence tampering. Advocate and public activist Adv Kulathoor Jaisingh filed the complaint following this.

Advocate Kulathoor Jaisingh has demanded that Antony Raju be removed from the bar membership after the court verdict revealed that his actions were not in keeping with the profession of a lawyer. A complaint has also been filed with the Bar Council Secretary.

The verdict was delivered last week in a case related to an incident that took place 34 years ago. The crucial sections 409,120 B, 420, 201,193, 34, 217 and 465 have been proven against Antony Raju. The case is that Antony Raju tampered with the underwear, which was evidence material, to save Australian citizen Andrew Salvador Sarvali, who was caught at the Thiruvananthapuram airport with 60 grams of hashish on April 4, 1990. Antony Raju, an advocate at the Vanchiyoor court in Thiruvananthapuram, took over Andrew's defence along with his senior, Advocate Celine Wilfred.

The Vanchiyoor court sentenced the accused to ten years, but Andrew obtained a favourable verdict from the High Court. The court released Andrew after accepting the defence's argument that the underwear, which was the evidence material, did not belong to the accused.

Later, while serving a sentence in another case in Australia, Andrew revealed to a fellow prisoner that he had escaped by manipulating the evidence. The fellow prisoner told the Australian police about this. Interpol then forwarded the information to the CBI. The CBI informed the Kerala Police about this. After the investigating officer, CI KK Jayamohan, approached the High Court, a re-investigation was conducted in the 'underwear case'. The first accused is Clerk Jose, who sold the evidence to Antony Raju. Antony Raju has currently been granted bail. Since the sentence is less than seven years, the court granted bail until the verdict in the appeal. Antony Raju can seek a stay on the verdict within this time and inform the court. Otherwise, he will have to go to jail.