Acting on legal advice, Antony Raju has chosen to resign voluntarily to pre-empt official disqualification.
Published Jan 04, 2026 | 11:38 AM ⚊ Updated Jan 04, 2026 | 3:24 PM
Antony Raju. (Adv.AntonyRaju/Facebook)
Synopsis: Antony Raju, who has been sentenced to three years in prison for evidence tampering, is expected to step down as an MLA even before the Kerala Assembly Secretary initiates formal disqualification proceedings. He is likely to submit his resignation to the Speaker either in person or by email.
Antony Raju, who has been sentenced to three years in prison for evidence tampering, is expected to step down as an MLA on Sunday, 4 January, even before the Kerala Assembly Secretary initiates formal disqualification proceedings.
On Saturday, the Nedumangad Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Thiruvananthapuram sentenced MLA and former transport minister Raju to three years’ imprisonment in the sensational evidence tampering case.
Under the Representation of the People Act, a conviction carrying a three-year sentence makes him ineligible to continue as a legislator. Acting on legal advice, Raju has chosen to resign voluntarily to pre-empt official disqualification.
Meanwhile, the Speaker’s office clarified that Antony Raju cannot resign as he has already been disqualified following his conviction. Since the court sentenced him to three years in prison, the disqualification came into force immediately, making any subsequent resignation legally meaningless.
The Assembly Secretariat said that under the Representation of the People Act, disqualification takes effect from the moment a conviction is pronounced. As a disqualified MLA no longer holds the post, there is no scope for a valid self-resignation. An official notification confirming his removal from the House will be issued shortly.
He is likely to submit his resignation to the Speaker either in person or by email. Once the court order is reviewed, his membership would otherwise have been annulled by the Assembly Secretariat. The conviction also bars him from contesting elections for a period of six years.
Politically, the CPI(M) is expected to reclaim the Thiruvananthapuram seat, which was earlier allotted to the Democratic Kerala Congress.
The Nedumangad First Class Judicial Magistrate, Ruby Ismail, had initially sentenced Raju to a total of six and a half years in multiple cases, later reduced to three years with concurrent sentencing. He has been granted one month’s bail to approach a higher court.
The first accused, court clerk KA Jose, received an identical sentence, with the court holding both equally responsible. Both were sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment for destruction of evidence and for fabricating false evidence.
In addition, the court awarded six months’ imprisonment to both for criminal conspiracy and imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on Antony Raju.
The case has its roots in April 1990, when Kerala Police detained Andrew Salvatore at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on allegations that he was attempting to smuggle hashish concealed in his underwear.
While under judicial remand, Salvatore obtained court permission to reclaim his personal effects that were not directly connected to the prosecution.
According to investigators, court clerk Jose abused his official position and released the undergarment—despite it being central to the case—to Antony Raju, who was appearing as Salvatore’s counsel.
The prosecution alleged that Raju tampered with the garment and returned it to the court, falsely representing it as the original material object, in a deliberate attempt to weaken the prosecution’s evidence.
The magistrate court found both accused guilty under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 193 (false evidence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), and 34 (acts done in furtherance of common intention).
The court held that the acts were aimed at deliberately creating circumstances for the accused to evade legal consequences. The magistrate rejected the prosecution’s plea to commit the case to the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court, proceeding instead to deliver the verdict.
With the conviction carrying a sentence exceeding two years, Antony Raju is set to lose his MLA membership under the Representation of the People Act.
However, he was granted bail to enable him to file an appeal against the conviction and sentence.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil with inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman.)
