Court grants one-day Excise custody of Reporter TV MD Anto Augustine in Abkari case
Anto Augustine, the managing director of Reporter TV, has been granted one-day custody to the Excise Department following the discovery of excess liquor at his ancestral home. The arrest is linked to a broader investigation into irregularities regarding a failed football event.
Why it matters
The case involves a prominent media figure and intersects with both regulatory compliance and ongoing financial investigations.
A court in Sultan Bathery on Saturday (September 19, 2026) granted the Excise Department custody of Anto Augustine, managing director of Malayalam news channel Reporter TV, for one day in a case registered after liquor above the permissible limit was seized from his ancestral house in Wayanad district of Keralam.
Sultan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Adheena Biju granted custody to the Excise Department in the case registered under the Abkari Act.
Mr. Augustine, managing director of Reporter Broadcasting Company, was arrested on Thursday after a Special Investigation Team, formed to probe alleged irregularities in a failed football event sponsored by the company, found liquor bottles at his ancestral house.
The SIT handed over the seized liquor to the Excise Department, which subsequently registered a case and arrested Mr. Augustine, officials said.
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