Three decades ago, in January 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) received a crucial piece of information from the Australian Interpol National Central Bureau. The Canberra-based agency shared with its Indian counterpart intelligence on an alleged foul play committed in a case that was tried in a court located in Thiruvananthapuram.
The input pertained to the alleged malpractices committed at the behest of an Australian, Andrew Salvatore Cervelli, who was nabbed at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport on April 4, 1990, with narcotic substances stored in two pockets concealed within his undergarment.
The Australian agency stated that some of Cervelli’s family members had travelled to India after his arrest and purportedly bribed a court official, who allegedly swapped the underwear worn by Cervelli at the time of arrest with a smaller pair.
A trial court in Thiruvananthapuram had convicted Cervelli for rigorous imprisonment for 10 years under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, but he secured an acquittal from the High Court, which observed that the underwear that was produced as evidence was too small to fit the accused, raising doubts about the prosecution’s version. Cervelli was represented in the trial court by a woman lawyer and her junior, Antony Raju. Following his acquittal, Cervelli returned to Australia, where he was later imprisoned in a murder case. The Australian agency sourced the information from an accomplice of Cervelli in the murder case.
The intelligence input rekindled the hopes of K.K.
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