Attack on CBI Officers - Habeas Corpus Dismissed; CE Supdt Arrested

By Vijay Kumar

THE Madurai attack on CBI officers while nabbing a Central Excise Superintendent taking a bribe is turning into something like a high voltage Tamil film.

It all started with a cable operator complaining to CBI about a Central Excise Superintendent of Madurai Commissionerate asking for a bribe. The CBI laid a trap and caught the Superintendent and his assistant red-handed. Here starts the filmy style drama. If it was shown in a Tamil film, people would have laughed it off, but truth is stranger than Tamil films - an armed gang barged into the Central Excise office, attacked the CBI officers and walked away with the caught red-handed Superintendent, the tainted money and other papers. It is heard that there was another two lakh rupees found in the office other than the bribe amount. The attackers walked away with that money also. Even as the Superintendent is absconding, CBI searched his house and found cash and gold. In the meantime, the Police booked cases against several persons including the absconding superintendent.

The mother of the Superintendent filed a habeas corpus in the Madurai Bench of the Madras Court alleging that the police have kept the wife of the Superintendent in illegal custody. The High Court dismissed the petition yesterday.

There is a Central Excise Officers Association (CEOA) School in Madurai with which our superintendent is closely connected. The Police yesterday arrested another Superintendent of Central Excise, who is the Chairman of the school, charging him with attempt to murder the CBI officers. The bribery accused superintendent is still absconding.

The exciting Climax is nowhere near.