Court reserves ruling on Anto Augustine’s anticipatory bail plea

The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court on Thursday, September 24, 2026, deferred its decision on Anto Augustine's anticipatory bail plea. The case revolves around a multi-crore fraud linked to Argentina football team's failed bid to bring Lionel Messi to Keralam. The court is expected to announce its verdict on Friday. Augustine had filed the application, anticipating an arrest following search operations by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at his headquarters and related locations last week.

Notably, Augustine was previously arrested and placed in judicial custody in an Abkari case where 67 liters of liquor, exceeding the permissible limit, were seized from his ancestral home in Wayanad. He subsequently secured bail from the High Court. However, the prosecution informed the court that the SIT intends to summon Augustine for interrogation without immediate plans for arrest.

The prosecution vehemently opposed returning $6,200 seized during the search operations, for which Augustine had requested the court's intervention, citing the need to establish the source of the foreign currency and highlighting the necessity of forensic accounting. Augustine has also sought anticipatory bail in another case registered on allegations that Chief Minister V.D.

Satheesan had entered a second marriage while his existing marriage was ongoing. The latter case was initially registered by the Cybercrime police in Thiruvananthapuram City based on a complaint from Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Raju P. Nair and subsequently transferred to the Kochi City Police due to the alleged place of occurrence being Kalamassery. This petition is anticipated before the court on September 26.