Ernakulam court reserves order on Anto Augustine's anticipatory bail plea

The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court on Thursday reserved its order on the anticipatory bail application filed by Anto Augustine, managing director of Reporter TV, in connection with the alleged multi-crore fraud surrounding a failed attempt to bring an Argentina football team captained by Lionel Messi to Keralam. A verdict is expected on Friday.

Mr. Augustine approached the court anticipating arrest after the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case conducted searches last week at the headquarters of Reporter Broadcasting Private Limited and at premises linked to him and his brothers.

The prosecution told the court that the SIT intends to summon him for interrogation and has no immediate plans to take him into custody. It also opposed his plea for the return of $6,200 seized during the searches, arguing that the origin of the foreign currency has not been established and that forensic accounting is required.

Separately, Mr. Augustine has sought anticipatory bail in another case registered on the basis of his own allegations that Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan had entered into a second marriage while an earlier marriage was subsisting. That case was first registered by the Cybercrime police in Thiruvananthapuram City on a complaint from Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Raju P. Nair, and was later transferred to the Kochi City Police after the alleged place of occurrence of the controversial remarks was identified as Kalamassery. The petition is expected to be taken up on September 26.

In an unrelated matter, Mr. Augustine was arrested and remanded in judicial custody in an Abkari case registered by the excise department after 67 litres of liquor, exceeding the permissible limit, were seized from his ancestral home in Wayanad. He has since secured bail from the High Court.