Court rejects bail plea of Reporter TV MD Anto Augustine in liquor seizure case
Augustine was arrested after liquor bottles were seized from his ancestral house; Kerala High Court to hear his bail plea on September 22
Wayanad (Keralam), Sep 18 (PTI) A court in Sultan Bathery here on Friday dismissed the bail petition of Anto Augustine, MD of a Malayalam news television channel, in a case registered after liquor above the permissible limit was seized from his ancestral house here.
Sultan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Adheena Biju dismissed the bail plea in the case registered by the Excise Department under the Abkari Act.
Augustine, Managing Director of Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC), was arrested on Thursday after a Special Investigation Team, formed to probe alleged irregularities in the failed football event sponsored by the company, found liquor bottles at his ancestral house.
The SIT referred the seizure to the Excise Department, which registered a case and arrested Augustine on Thursday.
Augustine was remanded in judicial custody till September 30 and shifted to Wayanad district jail in Mananthavady.
The court had heard his bail plea on Thursday.
While Augustine claimed he was unaware of the liquor bottles, the Excise department opposed the bail plea, arguing that a detailed investigation was required to establish the source of the seized liquor.
The court on Friday dismissed the bail petition.
It directed that Augustine be produced before it on Saturday after the Excise Department approached the court seeking his custody.
Later in the day, a petition was filed before the Keralam High Court seeking bail.
In the petition, Augustine claimed that the property from which the liquor was seized was mortgaged to the State Bank of India and was brought to sale by the authorised officer of the bank under the SARFAESI Act.
In the e-auction held on June 30, 2022, it was sold to one Lilly for over Rs 2 crore.
“The petitioner has therefore had neither title to nor possession of the building for more than four years before the date of the alleged detection,” the petition said.
He said that he was not present at the house when the liquor was seized.
When the petition came before Justice Kauser Edappagath, the Director General of Prosecution submitted that the investigation team had approached the magistrate court seeking custody of Augustine and that the matter would be considered on Saturday.
The court, considering the submission, decided to hear the petition on September 22. PTI