Court grants one-day Excise custody of Reporter TV MD Anto Augustine in Abkari case

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.

He was remanded in judicial custody till September 30 and shifted to the Wayanad district jail in Mananthavady. The court on Friday dismissed his bail petition.

Following a petition seeking his custody, Mr. Augustine was produced before the court on Saturday.

HC moved

The Excise Department had sought his custody for four days. However, after hearing the prosecution and defence counsels, the court granted custody for only one day. Mr. Augustine has approached the Kerala High Court seeking bail, and the petition will be considered on September 22.