The Supreme Court on Wednesday restored criminal proceedings in a trial court against former Kerala transport minister Antony Raju for alleged tampering of evidence in a drug seizure case reported in 1990.

A bench of Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Sanjay Karol held that it can’t be said that high court order allowing fresh proceedings against Raju was bad in law. “The accused shall appear before the trial court on December 20, 2024 or on the next working day of the court concerned,” the bench said. The Kerala High Court on March 10 last year had quashed the proceedings.