Kerala court grants anticipatory bail to broadcaster in two cases

The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court has granted anticipatory bail to Reporter TV Managing Director Anto Augustine in two cases, according to defence sources. One case concerns alleged financial fraud connected with a failed bid to bring the Argentina football team, led by Lionel Messi, to Kerala. The other was registered over allegations that Kerala Chief Minister V.D.

Satheesan had entered into a second marriage while his existing marriage was still subsisting. Augustine sought anticipatory bail after a Special Investigation Team investigating the football-related case searched the headquarters of Reporter Broadcasting Private Limited and locations linked to him and his brothers last week. Defence sources said bail was granted after the prosecution clarified that an arrest was not imminent in either case.

They said they had also asked that any future arrest be preceded by appropriate notice. Augustine separately sought the release of $6,200 seized by the SIT during the searches. The prosecution opposed that request, saying the source of the foreign currency had not been established and that forensic accounting was required.

Augustine was also arrested in a separate Abkari case after the Excise Department said 67 litres of liquor, above the permissible limit, were found at his ancestral home in Wayanad. He has since secured bail from the Kerala High Court. The case involving allegations against Satheesan was initially registered by the Cyber Crime Police in Thiruvananthapuram after a complaint by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Raju P.

Nair. It was later transferred to Kochi City Police because the alleged remarks were said to have been made in Kalamassery.