Court refuses to stay former minister Antony Raju’s conviction in ‘evidence tampering’ case

T'puram: Former minister Antony Raju suffered a setback in the ‘case property tampering' case, with Thiruvananthapuram district and sessions court refusing to stay his conviction.Raju approached the court challenging the verdict of Nedumangad judicial first-class magistrate court, which found him guilty and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000. In his appeal, he also filed a petition seeking to set aside the sentence and conviction.
While the sessions court decided to continue hearing detailed arguments in the appeal, it rejected his plea to stay the conviction. Since the conviction was not suspended, the disqualification arising from the conviction continues to apply to him. However, the court temporarily suspended the execution of the sentence until orders are passed after a detailed hearing of the appeal. The suspension of the sentence remains in effect only until the court delivers its order in the appeal. In his petition, Raju contended that the sentence imposed by the magistrate court was legally unsustainable. The defence argued that the conviction and punishment could not be upheld in law. The prosecution opposed this plea. The case relates to alleged tampering of case property in a narcotics case. According to the prosecution, Raju, while practising as an advocate, manipulated an undergarment that was seized and produced as case property (‘thondimuthal') in a drug case. He was arraigned as the second accused in the case. Magistrate court earlier sentenced both Raju and the first accused, former court staff member K S Jose, to three years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each after finding them guilty.