Supreme Court rejects Antony Raju's plea to suspend conviction in 1990 case

The Supreme Court of India on Monday dismissed a plea by former Kerala minister Antony Raju seeking suspension of his conviction in an evidence tampering case dating back to 1990.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma upheld an earlier decision of the Kerala High Court, which had refused to grant relief.

The case relates to an incident in 1990 when Raju, then a junior lawyer, was accused of tampering with material evidence in a narcotics case involving an Australian national. The prosecution alleged that a piece of underwear, considered crucial evidence, had been altered.

In January 2026, a trial court convicted Raju under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 120B, 420, 201, 193, and 217 read with Section 34, and sentenced him to three years in prison. The conviction led to his disqualification as a Member of the Legislative Assembly and made him ineligible to contest the 2026 Assembly elections.

Raju had sought suspension of his conviction to remove this disqualification and return to electoral politics. However, courts rejected the request, noting that such relief cannot be granted solely to enable a person to contest elections. His sentence, however, had been suspended by a sessions court.

The High Court had earlier observed that disqualification from contesting polls is a statutory consequence of conviction and cannot justify suspension in the absence of any serious legal flaw in the judgment.