Court sends Malayalam TV channel MD back to jail after one-day Excise custody

Wayanad (Keralam) : A court in Sultan Bathery on Sunday remanded Anto Augustine, managing director of a Malayalam news television channel, to judicial custody after he completed one day in Excise custody in a case following the seizure of liquor bottles above the permissible limit from his ancestral house here.

Augustine, who was taken into Excise custody for one day, was produced before Sultan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Adheena Biju.

He was subsequently shifted to Wayanad District Jail in Mananthavady.

Before entering the jail, Augustine told reporters that he would respond to their queries later.

During the 24-hour custody, the Excise team took Augustine to his ancestral house as part of evidence collection in the case. The liquor bottles seized from the house were also examined as part of the investigation.

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 Augustine, officials said.

He was remanded in judicial custody till September 30.

The court on Friday had dismissed his bail petition.

Augustine later approached the Kerala High Court seeking bail. The High Court decided to consider his plea on September 22.