Muttil case: Supreme Court shifts cheating case to court trying tree-felling case

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 22, 2026) granted a plea by Roji Augustine, an accused in the Muttil tree-felling case, to have the same court try both the tree-felling case and a cheating case registered in this connection.

A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran ordered that the cheating case before the Chottanikkara court be transferred to the Sulthan Bathery court where the main case is being tried.

The apex court said the cheating case could be considered subsequent to the tree-felling one. The petitioner-accused, represented by senior advocate R. Basant and advocate P. Vishnu, had approached the Supreme Court for a stay in the trial proceedings in Chottanikkara. The State was represented by senior advocate M.R. Ramesh Babu and advocate Aljo K. Joseph.

Earlier, the Kerala High Court had refused to stay the trial court proceedings against Mr. Augustine. He and his brothers, Jose Kutty Augustine and Anto Augustine, had been arraigned as accused in the case being tried in the Chottanikkara Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Ernakulam.

The prosecution case is that the accused persons cheated M.M. Aliyar, proprietor of Malabar Timber Industries, Karimugal, Ernakulam district, to the tune of ₹1.4 crore by offering to sell him timber.

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