The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Kerala High Court order reinstating criminal proceedings against former Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju for allegedly tampering with evidence in a drug seizure case from 1990, reported PTI.
A bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol ruled that the High Court’s decision to allow fresh proceedings against Raju was legally sound. The top court directed a trial court in Kerala to conclude the proceedings within one year.
“The accused shall appear before the trial court on December 20, 2024, or on next working day of court concerned,” the bench said.
On March 10, 2023, the High Court quashed the proceedings in the case on technical grounds.
Raju is a leader of Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, a member of the state’s ruling Left Democratic Front. He served as the lawyer for an Australian citizen who has been accused in the drug case.
The Australian had been arrested at Thiruvananthapuram airport for carrying hashish. The prosecution said he had concealed the contraband in his underwear, which was presented as evidence in court.
The court convicted the Australian citizen and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. However, he was acquitted by the High Court in 1993 after Raju demonstrated that the piece of innerwear was too small for him to conceal the contraband.
A police investigation later revealed that Raju had received the underwear from the court and returned it four months later, just before his client filed an appeal in the High Court.
A district court subsequently ordered a case to be filed against Raju and court clerk K Jose for tampering with the material evidence.
The High Court had quashed the proceedings, noting that there had been a fundamental error in how the proceedings were conducted, which undermined the entire case. The court ruled that it was necessary for such errors to be rectified and ordered that “the proceedings [against Raju] are initiated in a proper manner in due compliance with the statutory stipulations.”
However, the High Court clarified that its order would not prevent “the competent authority, or the court concerned from taking up the matter and pursuing the prosecution as per the procedure under Section 195(1)(b) of the CrPC”.
Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with prosecution for offences relating to documents given in evidence.
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