Former transport minister and MLA Antony Raju was disqualified as a member of the legislative assembly following his conviction in the evidence tampering case. The Secretariat of the Kerala Legislature issued a notification on Monday in this regard. 

The Nedumangad Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I on Saturday sentenced Raju to three years' imprisonment after finding him guilty in the case registered in 1990.

"Antony Raju ...is sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment...Consequently, as per the provisions of the Representation of the People's Act, 1951 and the relevant Supreme Court decisions, Antony Raju has become disqualified to be a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Therefore, the 134-Thiruvananthapuram seat in the Kerala Legislative Assembly has become vacant with effect from 3rd January 2026," the extraordinary notification read.

The case
Antony Raju was the lawyer of an Australian national named Andrew Salvatore, who was arrested for possessing marijuana. He was found with two packets of charas concealed in the pocket of his underwear at the Thiruvananthapuram airport when he was headed to Mumbai in 1990.

While a sessions court initially convicted Salvatore and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment, the Kerala High Court acquitted him in 1991.

The acquittal was primarily based on the defence's argument that the underwear produced as evidence was too small to fit the accused. During the appeal, the court observed a demonstration in which the garment failed to fit Salvatore, leading the bench to express strong suspicion of tampering with the evidence.

The subsequent investigation revealed that Antony Raju had allegedly conspired with a court clerk, K Jose, to obtain the underwear from the court's material objects room. It was alleged that Raju took the garment, had it re-stitched to a smaller size, and returned it to the court four months later to ensure it would not fit his client during the High Court hearing.