India, Sept. 22 -- The Kerala High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Anto Augustine, managing director of private Malayalam news channel Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC), in an Abkari case related to the seizure of liquor bottles allegedly beyond the permissible limit from his ancestral house in Wayanad.

Justice Kauser Edappagath granted the relief, noting that Augustine had not been accused in any other similar case involving Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), either currently or in the past.

The court said it had been granting bail in IMFL cases unless an accused had more than one such case or past antecedents of similar offences.

Since the case against Augustine was the first of its kind, the court held that he could be granted ba...