More trouble for TV channel chief over documents on Keralam CM’s ‘second marriage’

The cyber division of the Thiruvananthapuram city police registered a first information report on Wednesday against Reporter TV Managing Director and Editor Anto Augustine, along with two unidentified individuals, accusing them of disseminating a forged document that alleged Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan had entered a second marriage. The complaint was lodged by Congress spokesperson Raju P Nair and the FIR cites multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including forgery, criminal conspiracy and defamation provisions.

The FIR lists sections 336(4), 337, 61, 92, 356(3), 340(2) and 339, reflecting charges of forging public records, using forged documents as genuine and making defamatory material. The case emerges hours after a Kerala Police special investigation team raided five locations, among them the office of Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC), the parent firm of Reporter TV, in connection with a cheating allegation tied to the company’s sponsorship of a proposed international football match featuring Lionel Messi that never materialised. Earlier, Kochi City Police had also filed an FIR against Augustine and RBC on grounds of criminal conspiracy and cheating related to the same Messi event.

The controversy follows the election of a Congress‑led government in Kerala, after which the state Sports Department reviewed RBC’s claim to host the Messi match and reportedly uncovered financial irregularities and alleged tax evasion. The legal actions against a prominent media figure underscore heightened scrutiny of political reporting in the state and raise questions about the intersection of media, politics and alleged financial misconduct.