Reporter TV raids: Govt cites law; channel and Oppn raise press freedom concerns

The arrest and subsequent remand of Reporter TV managing director Anto Augustine have added another layer to the growing controversy surrounding the Malayalam news channel and its owners.

Augustine was arrested by the Excise Department in the early hours of Thursday (September 17), a day after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Keralam Police searched the Reporter Broadcasting Company office and properties linked to Augustine and his brothers as part of a probe into alleged financial irregularities surrounding the failed attempt to bring Lionel Messi and the Argentina football team to Keralam.

Messi case raids lead to liquor seizure, arrest

A Sulthan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Court later remanded Augustine to judicial custody for 14 days. He was taken to the district jail in Mananthavady.

The immediate reason for Augustine’s arrest was not the Messi case, but a separate case under the Kerala Abkari Act. During the SIT searches on Wednesday (September 16), police found a large quantity of liquor at Augustine’s family home in Muttil, Wayanad. The seizure was subsequently handed over to the Excise Department, which registered a case under Sections 55(a), 55(i) and 58 of the Abkari Act.

Also read: Keralam SIT raids Reporter TV headquarters, owners’ homes in Messi event case

According to the prosecution, around 67 litres of liquor in 138 bottles were found at the house. The seizure included foreign-made liquor, wine and another alcoholic liquid. Excise officials have also raised suspicion that around 12.75 litres of the seized liquid could be illicit or spurious liquor. Samples are being examined to establish its nature. The legal limit for possession is substantially lower.

Augustine has denied the allegations. Speaking at the time of his arrest, he said he had never consumed alcohol and questioned why an Excise case had been registered immediately after the police searches connected with the Messi investigation. The timing of the arrest has nevertheless become politically and journalistically significant because of what happened at Reporter TV the previous day.

Police defend Sept 16 raids

On September 16, the SIT conducted searches at five locations linked to Reporter Broadcasting Company and the Augustine brothers. The locations included the Reporter TV office in Kalamassery and residences connected to Anto Augustine and his brothers in Kochi and Wayanad. The searches followed an FIR in which Augustine was named the first accused and Reporter Broadcasting Company the second accused. The case concerns alleged cheating, criminal conspiracy and the alleged fabrication of documents connected to the proposed Argentina football team’s visit to Kerala.

Also read: Serious allegations in report on Messi event; govt will investigate it: Kerala CM

Police have said the searches were conducted on the strength of a warrant obtained from a magistrate's court. ADGP P Vijayan, who heads the SIT, denied allegations that the police had disrupted the channel's news broadcast or seized journalists' mobile phones. According to him, the search process was videographed.

Raids trigger press freedom row

Reporter TV, however, gave a different account.

The channel alleged that police entered the newsroom and took control of journalists' mobile phones, disrupting its functioning. It questioned whether the search warrant permitted the police to enter the working newsroom and handle journalists' devices.

The issue quickly became a press freedom controversy, with Opposition leaders and media organisations criticising the police action.

Former chief minister and Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan described the raid as an assault on the media, while Chief Minister VD Satheesan defended the investigation and said the police were acting within the law.

Why is Augustine's company in soup?

The case is in connection with a proposed visit by the Argentina football team, including Lionel Messi, to Keralam, last year. The project was initially promoted by the previous LDF government and generated enormous public interest after plans emerged for Argentina to play a friendly match in Kochi.

Reporter Broadcasting Company eventually became the private sponsor of the event and was entrusted with a significant role in organising the event.

Also read: Why in Kerala, World Cup flex wars are reflective of football being a lived experience in the state

The company has maintained that it entered into an agreement with the Argentina Football Association (AFA) and that it transferred substantial sums as part of the deal. Anto Augustine had said in 2025 that Reporter had transferred about Rs 130 crore to the AFA and accused the Argentine football body of subsequently failing to honour its commitment. Reporter has maintained that it suffered the financial loss and has pursued the matter through international sports arbitration.

What probe revealed

A Sports Department inquiry that followed the change of government put the spotlight on the conception of the project, selection process of sponsor, government’s involvement and the financial trail of the entire exercise.

That inquiry ultimately became the basis for the police investigation, which has now brought the Reporter TV office and its managing director directly into the criminal case.

The inquiry report submitted by the Kerala Sports Department this year alleged that the document received from the AFA was not a formal commitment to the Kerala government or a legally binding assurance that Argentina would play in the state.

Also read: What Messi frenzy in cricket-crazy India says about dreams of youth and sports fans

It also questioned the process through which Reporter Broadcasting Company was selected as sponsor and the government's handling of the project. It also raised questions about the absence of proper government records for some of the communications and agreements connected with the project.

Firm accused of conspiracy in FIR

The department inquiry report alleges that Reporter Broadcasting Company failed to pay ₹22.68 crore in IGST under the Reverse Charge Mechanism on about ₹126.04 crore remitted to the Argentina Football Association through its collection agent for the proposed Messi visit. The GST authorities have reportedly estimated the total tax liability at ₹25.78 crore.

The government later handed the matter to a police SIT. The FIR alleges that Augustine and others entered into a conspiracy before December 2024 and fabricated purported agreements with the AFA, thereby inducing the government to provide facilities, including the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi, for an event that ultimately did not take place.

LDF questions GST liability charges

Defenders of the Reporter management point out that the report was prepared by an officer who had himself courted controversy over public statements and social media criticism of senior officials, including the chief secretary, and was suspended by the previous LDF government.

However, the matter has now turned into a political battle, with LDF leaders alleging that the investigation is part of a wider witch-hunt targeting not just Reporter TV but also leaders associated with the front.

“GST is always levied on a supply. If there is no supply, the very basis for levying GST disappears. In this case, the Argentina Football Association has already stated that it will not provide the proposed service. So, what is the basis for demanding GST when there is no supply?” said Dr TM Thomas Issac, former finance minister and CPI(M) central committee member.

Also read: Messi hopes for 'bright future' of football in India

“GST can be imposed on an advance if the applicable rules require it, but if the transaction itself does not materialise, that tax would eventually have to be refunded. The GST system was introduced to eliminate such arbitrary and discretionary taxation. The GST Commissioner should therefore clarify under which provision the investigation against Reporter Broadcasting Company is being conducted,” he said.

Law taking its course: Keralam government

However, the government denies any overreach, maintaining that the law is taking its course.

“The raid at the channel was part of the police investigation, and no journalist was mistreated. The government’s actions have been transparent. The Sports Department’s report on the Messi controversy was submitted to the chief minister and subsequently forwarded to the Home Department. After examining the legal aspects, an SIT comprising senior police officers was formed under Law-and-Order ADGP P Vijayan. There has been no attempt by the police to target or tarnish any media organisation,” Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said.

For Anto Augustine, however, the immediate legal battle is over the Abkari case rather than the Messi FIR. At the same time, the police SIT investigation into the Messi project continues, with material seized during the searches being examined.

That sequence of events has now placed Reporter TV at the centre of three parallel stories – the investigation into the failed Messi event, the dispute over how the police conducted their search of a functioning newsroom, and a separate Abkari case against the channel's managing director.