Kerala High Court Refuses To Suspend Ex-MLA Antony Raju's Conviction In Evidence Tampering Case

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (17 march) dismissed the plea preferred by former MLA Antony Raju seeking to set aside the order of the District and Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram that rejected his application to suspend his conviction in the Evidence Tampering case.

Justice C. Jayachandran delivered the judgment.

Antony Raju was arrayed as the the second accused in an evidence tampering case involving an Australian national, Andrew Salvatore.

The prosecution case was that Raju who was the defence counsel for Salvatore, entered into a conspiracy with the 1st accused, the Clerk in charge of the property section of the Judicial Second Class Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram with the intention of tampering with the evidence in an NDPS case so as to secure the acquittal of Salvatore.

The Judicial First Class Magistrate - I Nedumangad pronounced Raju guilty of tampering with the material evidence. He was sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a term of 6 months for the offence under Section 120B; 3 years with Rs.10,000/- fine for the offence under Section 201 r/w Section 34 for 3 months; 3 years for the offence under Section 193 r/w Section 34; 2 years for the offence under Section 465 r/w Section 34. The sentences were to run concurrently.

Subsequently, he moved the Sessions Court challenging the conviction. Though the Sessions Court suspended the execution of the sentence, it dismissed his application to suspend the conviction. Aggrieved, he has come before the High Court challenging the dismissal.

According to Raju, the precedents in law point that in cases where the ramification of keeping the conviction alive during pendency of appeal is irreconcilable, the appellate court can suspend conviction. The present case, where a candidate is barred from contesting in an election because of a conviction that is challenged in appeal, constitutes an irreversible injury that cannot be monetarily compensated.

(a detailed judgement is awaited)

Case Title: Antony Raju v. State of Kerala

Case No: Crl.M.C. No. 1627/2026

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 151

Counsel for Petitioner: P. Vijaya Bhanu (Sr.), Aaron Zacharias Benny, M Revikrishnan, P.M Rafiq, Ajeesh K. Sasi, Sruthy N. Bhat, Sruthy K.K, K. Aravind Menon, Sona Maria Biju

Counsel for Respodnents: P. Narayanan (Sp. GP), Sajju. S (Sr. GP), V.R Manoranjan (PP)