Published Sep 22, 2026 | 12:19 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 22, 2026 | 12:19 PM
Anto Augustine was arrested from his Kochi office by the Excise Department on Thursday, 17 September.
Synopsis: The Keralam High Court has granted conditional bail to Reporter TV MD Anto Augustine in an Abkari Act case for allegedly storing liquor beyond the permitted limit at his ancestral house in Wayanad. He was arrested last Thursday after the SIT probing financial irregularities surrounding the proposed visit of Lionel Messi to Keralam searched the property and found more than 40 litres of liquor.
The Keralam High Court has granted conditional bail to Reporter TV MD Anto Augustine in the Abkari Act case registered against him for allegedly storing liquor beyond the permissible limit at his ancestral house in Wayanad.
He was arrested from his Kochi office by the Excise Department on Thursday, 17 September, after being booked under Sections 55A, 55I and 58 of the Abkari Act.
Justice Kauser Edappagath passed the order on Tuesday, 22 September, noting that custodial interrogation had been completed. He directed Augustine to appear before the investigating officer whenever required.
Augustine, who is in judicial custody at Mananthavady jail, is expected to be released the same day after the jail authorities receive the court order and complete the formalities.
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 in the organisation of the proposed visit of football star Lionel Messi and the Argentine national team to the state. Reporter Broadcasting Company, which operates Reporter TV, was the main commercial sponsor of the proposed event.
The SIT found over 40 litres of liquor at the house and alerted the Excise Department. The prosecution said officials seized 43.850 litres of foreign liquor, 1.224 litres of foreign wine, 6.250 litres of KSBC wine, 750 ml of Indian-made foreign liquor and 12.750 litres of an alcohol-containing liquid.
Ownership of the property from which the liquor was seized became a key issue during the High Court proceedings.
The house is part of a 36.25-cent property that had been mortgaged to the State Bank of India against a ₹13.57-crore loan. The bank later initiated recovery proceedings and put the property up for online auction on 30 June 2022.
Augustine’s counsel told the court that the building was sold in the e-auction and that Augustine no longer had any right or possession over it.
According to the sale certificate produced by the defence, the property was auctioned for ₹2.001 crore on 30 June 2022, with possession transferred to the purchaser, Augustine’s mother-in-law, Lilly Jose.
The prosecution disputed this, pointing out that Augustine had paid building tax for the property in 2026. The court asked whether payment of tax alone could establish possession after a property had been sold.
According to bank officials, Lilly Jose was the sole bidder and acquired the property for ₹2 crore, despite its reported value being several crores. The bank has reportedly not completed registration of the property in her name.
The same property was also allegedly mortgaged to another public sector bank while the earlier ₹13.57-crore loan remained outstanding.
Bank officials informed the High Court about the second mortgage. The property was subsequently brought under recovery proceedings, while its ownership has also figured in Augustine’s legal arguments before the courts.
The original loan was sanctioned in 2013 for Asian Motors. It comprised ₹11.57 crore in cash credit and a ₹2-crore term loan. Bank officials later allegedly found that the vehicles for which the loan was sanctioned had not been purchased and initiated recovery proceedings.
Augustine was represented by Senior Counsel S Sreekumar and advocates M P Shameem Ahamed and Mohammed Firdouz.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman)
