Kerala police raid Reporter TV office over failed Lionel Messi match deal

Kerala police raided the headquarters of Malayalam news channel Reporter TV and four other properties on Wednesday morning, escalating a criminal investigation into a failed, highly publicised proposal to bring Lionel Messi and the Argentina national football team to Kochi.

The searches, which began around 6:00 am, targeted the Kalamassery head office of the Reporter Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) in Ernakulam district, alongside the homes of its managing director, Anto Augustine, and his brothers and co-owners, Roji and Josekutty Augustine, in Kochi and Wayanad.

Why were the offices searched?

The raids follow an FIR registered on Tuesday against Anto Augustine and RBC. Police allege the company entered into a criminal conspiracy to fabricate agreements with the Argentina Football Association.

According to the police, these forged documents were used to mislead the state government, secure the lease of the international stadium in Kochi, and generate unlawful financial gains from a proposed friendly match that was supposed to take place late last year.

The sports department launched an inquiry after the Congress-led government took office, alleging widespread tax evasion and financial misappropriation under the guise of organising the prestigious event.

The raid and the newsroom standoff

The police action quickly turned into a physical and political standoff. Journalists at the channel claimed that police officers barged into the newsroom, seized personal mobile phones, and took control of incoming phone lines to disrupt their news operations. They also claimed the channel's administrative head, Shah Feena Mehar Ali, was taken into custody.

Police officials strongly denied those accusations. Thrikkakara Assistant Commissioner of Police C.K. Bijoy Chandran said officers were executing a court-issued search warrant after RBC administrators refused to cooperate or accept a legal notice. ADGP P. Vijayan said the entire operation was videographed, denying that any journalists' phones were confiscated or that the broadcast was interrupted.

A political flashpoint

The incident has ignited a fierce political row in Kerala. Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan, whose Left Democratic Alliance government was in power when the Messi match was first proposed, condemned the raid as a "terrorising" assault on press freedom reminiscent of the Emergency. He accused the police of attempting to silence the media.

Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan dismissed the outcry, stating that the channel's operations had clearly not been disrupted. "I had watched the raid news on Reporter TV itself," Satheesan told reporters. He accused the opposition leader of hypocrisy, pointing to several media raids and journalist arrests carried out under Vijayan's own tenure as chief minister.

History of controversy

The Augustine brothers have a history of legal trouble in the state. In 2021, the three brothers were arrested and later bailed in connection with the Muttil tree-felling scandal, which involved the illegal harvesting of protected timber from government-assigned land. They also face a separate pending cheating case in Ernakulam over a timber deal.