Reporter TV managing director Anto Augustine arrested in liquor case
Reporter TV Managing Director Anto Augustine was arrested by Excise officials in the early hours of Thursday, September 17, after liquor beyond the permissible limit was recovered from his ancestral house in Wayanad during a police search a day earlier.
An Excise team led by Assistant Commissioner Baiju reached the Reporter TV office in Kalamassery around 2 am and took Augustine into custody. He was later subjected to a medical examination before being taken to Wayanad, where he is expected to be produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Sulthan Bathery. Officials said 43 litres of liquor were seized from his ancestral house at Vazhavatta.
The Excise Department booked Augustine under Sections 55(A), 55(I) and 58 of the Kerala Abkari Act, non-bailable provisions relating to possession of liquor in excess of the permitted quantity. Before the arrest was formally recorded, Augustine reportedly insisted on being shown a hard copy of the FIR rather than a digital one, prompting Perumbavoor Excise Circle Inspector Manoj Kumar to arrive with the physical document.
The liquor case followed a nearly 20-hour search on Wednesday by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) at the Reporter Broadcasting Company's office and residences linked to Augustine and his brothers in Kochi and Wayanad, part of a probe into alleged financial irregularities surrounding a failed initiative to bring Argentine football star Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team to Kerala. During the search, police seized documents, memory cards and records related to Kaloor stadium, along with $6,300 in foreign currency, and also searched flats belonging to Augustine and his brothers in Chembumukku and the office of a marketing company, GOTAD, believed to have links to Augustine.
Speaking to reporters, Augustine said all documents relating to the Messi probe had already been handed over and that search was complete, adding, "The arrest is now made in an Excise case. Let's see." He said Excise officials detained him around 2 am but informed him of the case only around 4.30 am, and denied ever consuming or using liquor, saying he was unaware of the case against him. Asked about the liquor seized from his house, he said he had been in Kochi at the time and had no knowledge of it.
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who returned from the US amid the developments, defended the SIT's conduct, saying the searches were carried out under court-issued warrants and that the investigation would be allowed to proceed without interference. He rejected opposition allegations of an "emergency-like situation" in the state, pointing out that several journalists had also been booked under the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government, and said police would act against anyone found to have committed an offence.
