Published Sep 22, 2026 | 3:35 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 22, 2026 | 3:35 PM
Supreme Court. (iStock)
Synopsis: The Forest Department case before the Sulthan Bathery court relates to the alleged illegal felling of rosewood trees in Muttil South village. The separate cheating case arose from a complaint by M.M. Aliyar, proprietor of Malabar Timber Industries, who alleged that the Augustine brothers had offered to sell timber worth ₹1.4 crore by claiming that they had obtained the necessary permissions.
The Supreme Court has transferred the cheating case against the Augustine brothers, Anto, Roji and Josekutty, accused in the Muttil tree-felling case, from the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Chottanikkara, to the court at Sulthan Bathery, after the state government informed it that the investigation report in the connected tree-felling case had been filed.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Vinod Chandran directed that the proceedings in the cheating case should begin at Sulthan Bathery only after the proceedings in the first case are concluded.
The Court also ordered that evidence in the two cases be recorded separately.
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The state informed the Court that 37 cases had been registered against the Augustine brothers and that the investigation report in the Muttil tree-felling case had been filed before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Sulthan Bathery, on 17 September.
The development came during the hearing of a petition filed by Roji Augustine challenging the proceedings in the cheating case at Chottanikkara.
The Kerala High Court had earlier directed the Chottanikkara magistrate court to commence the trial.
On September 15, the High Court dismissed the Augustine brothers’ plea seeking a stay on the proceedings until the final report in the connected case was filed at Sulthan Bathery.
Appearing for Roji Augustine, Senior Advocate R. Basant and Advocate P. Vishnu submitted before the Supreme Court that the investigation report in the Sulthan Bathery case had not been filed and sought a stay on the Chottanikkara proceedings.
They argued that the two cases were interconnected and that proceeding with the cheating case before the filing of the final report could cause the accused serious prejudice.
Senior Advocate M.R. Ramesh Babu and Standing Counsel Aljo Joseph, appearing for the state, informed the Court that the investigation report had since been filed on September 17.
Following this submission, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the Chottanikkara case to Sulthan Bathery.
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The Forest Department case before the Sulthan Bathery court relates to the alleged illegal felling of rosewood trees in Muttil South village.
The separate cheating case arose from a complaint by M.M. Aliyar, proprietor of Malabar Timber Industries, who alleged that the Augustine brothers had offered to sell timber worth ₹1.4 crore by claiming that they had obtained the necessary permissions.
Roji Augustine and his brothers Josekutty Augustine and Anto Augustine have disputed the allegations.
They have contended that the timber did not constitute forest produce and that the Forest Department’s seizure of the material was therefore legally unsustainable.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
