The Supreme Court of India, on Wednesday, reinstated criminal proceedings against Antony Raju, a former Kerala transport minister, in a long-standing evidence tampering case related to a drug seizure incident from 1990. The decision came from a bench comprising Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Sanjay Karol, who determined that the High Court’s decision to allow fresh proceedings was legally sound.
This case has seen various turns over the decades, beginning with a 1990 incident where an Australian citizen was apprehended at Thiruvananthapuram’s international airport for smuggling hashish, concealed within his innerwear. Despite being sentenced initially, the accused was acquitted in 1993 after the High Court accepted that the evidence, an innerwear, was improbably small for the accused.
Further investigation revealed that Raju, then acting as the lawyer for the accused, had handled the innerwear evidence, having received it from the court and returned it months later. This act led to suspicions of tampering, prompting a district court to direct filing charges against Raju and a court clerk, K Jose.
The recent Supreme Court directive emphasizes a rapid conclusion to this prolonged legal battle, mandating the trial court to finalize the proceedings within a year. Antony Raju is required to appear before the trial court by December 20, 2024.
In 2022, the Kerala High Court had initially quashed the proceedings citing procedural defects but stressed the seriousness of the allegations and the potential implications on judicial functions. This sentiment was reiterated, underscoring the need for a vigorous and just handling of the case to ensure that the justice system remains unblemished.
