No bail for Anto Augustine in abkari case, to continue in jail

KALPETTA: A setback for Reporter Channel managing editor Anto Augustine, arrested in an abkari case, in the court. The Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court in Sultan Bathery rejected Anto’s bail plea. Anto, who has been remanded for 14 days, will remain in the Mananthavady District Jail.

The court upheld the arguments put forward by the excise department and denied Anto bail with the single-word order, ‘dismissed’. During a raid conducted by the Special Investigation Team at Anto Augustine’s ancestral house in Wayanad in the Messi controversy, seized 69.589 litres of liquor. After the liquor was handed over to the excise department, a case was registered against him and he was arrested.

Meantime, the defence argued in court that the house is not in the name of Anto Augustine. However, the prosecution opposed bail, producing documents including tax records from 2025 to establish that the house is indeed in Anto’s name. A total of 43 bottles of foreign-made liquor and illicit liquor were seized from Anto’s house. Under Indian law, an individual is permitted to keep only three litres of liquor at home.

Anto, who was arrested by the excise department in Kochi yesterday morning, was taken to the assistant excise commissioner’s office in Meenangadi. He was questioned for five hours under the leadership of north zone joint excise commissioner V Biju before being produced before the court and remanded.