Underwear evidence tampering case: Former minister Antony Raju sentenced to three years in prison, will lose his MLA position

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Antony Raju MLA, who was found guilty in the evidence tampering case, has been sentenced to three years in prison. He has been sentenced to two years for forging documents and three years for destroying evidence. With the sentence, Antony Raju will lose his MLA position. The sentence was passed by the Nedumangad Judicial First Class Court.

The verdict has now been delivered 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 underwear and other items to save Australian citizen Andrew Salvador Sarvali, who was arrested 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. However, Andrew obtained a favourable verdict from the High Court. The court released Andrew after accepting the defence's argument that the underwear produced as evidence 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 destroying the underwear. The fellow prisoner told the police in Australia about this. Interpol then passed the information on to the CBI. The CBI informed the Kerala Police about this. After the investigating officer, CI KK Jayamohan, approached the High Court, a new investigation was conducted in the 'Underwear evidence' case. The first accused is Clerk Jose, who passed the evidence to Antony Raju.