Published Sep 18, 2026 | 5:27 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 18, 2026 | 5:27 PM
Anto Augustine
Synopsis: The Keralam High Court on Friday deferred hearing Reporter TV Managing Director and Managing Editor Anto Augustine’s interim bail plea. Augustine was arrested on Thursday under the Abkari Act for storing excessive amounts of alcohol at his ancestral home and remanded to 14 days in judicial custody. His defence told the court that he no longer owned or possessed the property where the liquor was seized. The court sought the prosecution’s response and posted the matter for 22 September.
The Keralam High Court on Friday, 18 September, deferred hearing the interim bail plea moved by Reporter TV Managing Director and Managing Editor Anto Augustine.
Augustine moved the High Court hours after the Judicial First Class Magistrate-I, Sulthan Bathery, rejected his bail plea earlier the same day.
He was arrested from his Kochi office by the Excise Department on Thursday after being booked under Sections 55A, 55I and 58 of the Abkari Act for storing alcoholic beverages in excess of the permitted quantity at his ancestral house in Wayanad.
During the hearing, the defence told the court that the building from which the liquor was seized was no longer owned or possessed by Augustine. It submitted that the property had been sold in SARFAESI proceedings in 2022.
The prosecution disputed the contention, pointing out that Augustine had paid tax on the property as recently as 2026. It also informed the court that it had sought police custody of the accused and that he would be produced before the Magistrate Court on Saturday.
Justice Kauser Edappagath sought instructions from the prosecution on the issues raised by the defence and posted the plea for further hearing on Tuesday, 22 September. The court will consider the documents concerning ownership and possession of the property when it takes up the bail plea.
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Augustine is currently lodged at the District Jail, Wayanad, in Mananthavady, after the Sulthan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Court remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody on Thursday.
His arrest followed a search at his Wayanad house on Wednesday, 16 September, by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Keralam police into alleged financial irregularities surrounding the failed visit of football star Lionel Messi and the Argentine national team to Keralam.
The SIT conducted coordinated searches at five locations across the State early on Wednesday under a court order. It found 43 litres of hard liquor and seven litres of wine at Augustine’s house and alerted the Excise Department.
Rules permit an unlicensed individual to keep three litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), 2.3 litres of foreign liquor and 3.5 litres of wine.
The Excise Department subsequently booked a case. A conviction under the section can attract up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of ₹1 lakh.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
