Published Sep 16, 2026 | 8:02 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 16, 2026 | 8:06 PM
Screengrab of Reporter TV’s own coverage of the raid. (Credit: Reporter TV)
Synopsis: Kerala Police’s early morning raids on Reporter TV’s Kalamassery office on Wednesday as part of a probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the proposed Lionel Messi event has brought to focus the political tensions around the channel, its coverage and questions over its ownership and broadcasting licence.
The early-morning raids at the Kalamassery headquarters of Malayalam news channel Reporter TV on Wednesday, 16 September, by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police, as part of its probe into alleged financial irregularities in the organisation of the proposed Lionel Messi event in Keralam, have triggered controversy.
The operation covered five locations, including the Kochi and Wayanad residences of Augustine brothers Anto Augustine and Joskutty Augustine, who head Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC), the Reporter TV headquarters and the office of GOTAD.
The police said the search was conducted on the basis of a court warrant, amid criticism from Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ).
MV Nikesh Kumar, former editor and founder of Reporter TV and now head of the CPI(M)’s cyber division at the AKG Centre, said the raids disrupted newsroom operations and that the police seized journalists’ phones.
“They can check the administrative block, but why enter the news desk, seize journalists’ phones and disrupt the functioning of the channel?” he said while speaking to the media.
MV Nikesh Kumar
Nikesh suggested that the raids were politically motivated and said Reporter TV was not opposed to the ruling UDF and had carried reports supporting UDF policies.
“Journalists may have different political affiliations and the management may have interests in different businesses, but why break press freedom and disrupt journalists’ work because of that?” he said.
“Every leader’s defeat starts with such actions, especially against the press.”
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Nikesh Kumar left Indiavision in 2010 and founded Reporter TV, where he served as managing director. In July 2023, the Augustine brothers—Roji Augustine, Jose Kutty Augustine and Anto Augustine, the managing editor of Reporter TV—took over the channel through Reporter Broadcasting Company amid its financial crisis.
A source in the editorial team, who spoke to South First on condition of anonymity, said the morning news desk begins functioning around 5 am. Employees on the night shift, who typically arrive around 10 pm, remain in the newsroom until around 6 am. The administrative section usually starts functioning only after 9 am and becomes fully operational around 10 am.
“If the investigators wanted to search the administrative block, they could have done so. What was the purpose of entering the newsroom and taking action there?”
Police at Reporter TV newsroom on September 16 morning. (Special Arrangement)
The source said the timing and location of the search had raised questions among employees.
The source also asserted that the local Kalamassery police had no prior knowledge of the raid, saying that otherwise their sources within the local police would likely have alerted them.
Nikesh Kumar has called on media organisations to stand together when press freedom comes under pressure.
He referred to the concerns that arose in 1989 when the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi faced the prospect of a corporate entity acquiring a minority stake in its ownership structure, amid allegations that the move could be a backdoor attempt by the Times of India group to gain control.
He also recalled Reporter TV’s support for MediaOne when the channel faced a ban under the previous Union government, and said media organisations should stand together irrespective of their differences.
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A section of Reporter TV’s editorial staff, who support the Congress but are critical of Chief Minister VD Satheesan, had opposed his efforts to consolidate public support after the UDF’s electoral victory, according to the aforementioned source within the editorial team.
“They believe KC Venugopal would have been the right choice,” they said.
Anto Augustine
The journalist said political affiliations among journalists were openly discussed within the newsroom but did not mean that the organisation worked for the CPI(M).
“Many journalists have political affiliations and we openly discuss them. But that does not mean we are working for the CPI(M). The CPI(M) has its own party channel, Kairali TV, to support it.”
The journalist also said they had figured in newsroom discussions about allegations concerning Satheesan’s personal life that subsequently became public.
Anto Augustine had publicly claimed that two young people had approached him with documents alleging that Satheesan had secretly entered into a second marriage at Mookambika in Kollur.
Copy of FIR
Following a complaint by senior Congress leader Raju P Nair, the Keralam Police DGP directed that a case be registered against Augustine.
The complaint alleged that Augustine’s statements, based on the purported documents, formed part of a political conspiracy involving forged or fabricated material intended to defame the Chief Minister and destabilise the government.
Following the controversy and the police action, Augustine has since appeared to distance himself from the claim. He subsequently said he had “no answer” regarding the Chief Minister’s personal life and maintained that he had referred to the matter only because the two youths had approached his news desk with the documents.
Raju P Nair, meanwhile, claimed there was a major conspiracy against Satheesan.
“There is a major conspiracy behind Anto’s allegations. They are trying to tarnish the Chief Minister’s image by forging documents and force his resignation. We want to know who is behind this larger plan,” he told South First.
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Reporter TV’s coverage of allegations against former Youth Congress president and Rahul Mamkootathil became a major source of friction between the channel and sections of the Congress.
In August 2025, amidst the media storm following allegations of sexual exploitation against the Palakkad MLA, the channel aired purported audio recordings, including one in which a male voice, alleged to be that of Mamkootathil, was heard discussing a woman’s pregnancy and pressing her to terminate it.
Rahul Mamkootathil
The broadcasts added to the political pressure on the Congress. The party later expelled Mamkootathil.
In early 2026, the channel again faced criticism from the party when UDF convenor and MP Adoor Prakash publicly criticised Reporter TV over its coverage of developments related to the Sabarimala gold theft case. Prakash also alleged that the channel was operating without a valid licence.
Separately, Twenty20 president Sabu M Jacob initiated legal action, alleging that Reporter TV’s broadcasting licence had been transferred from Indo-Asian News Channel Pvt. Ltd. to Reporter Broadcasting Company Pvt. Ltd. without the Union Ministry’s prior approval.
The episode caused distress among staff, according to the aforementioned Reporter TV journalist.
“We were actually panicked after Adoor Prakash’s statement. There were discussions in the newsroom about the security of our jobs if the channel really did not have a licence,” the journalist said.
According to the journalist, the uncertainty was addressed by Anto Augustine at a meeting, where he told the staff that the channel had a valid licence and that it was valid until 2034.
Reporter TV’s assertion that it maintains a distance from the CPI(M) has also come under scrutiny following the Sports Department’s second report on the proposed Messi event.
Adoor Prakash
Prepared by Special Secretary N Prasanth, IAS, the report alleges that the previous LDF government granted Reporter Broadcasting Company, the event sponsor, rights over the event’s revenue and profits without charge.
It also notes that two IAS officers were assigned full-time to the project despite there being no formal agreement with the government.
The report further alleges that the Sports Kerala Foundation’s detailed project report (DPR) was structured in a manner that could enable substantial profits for the sponsor.
Prasanth had previously been a vocal critic of the LDF government and was suspended several times.
In February 2026, three senior journalists and former Deshabhimani news editors—KV Sudhakaran, K Mohandas and ES Subhash—quit the CPI(M)’s digital campaign team, citing unilateral decisions and raising objections to Nikesh Kumar’s leadership of the party’s cyber division.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
