Conditional bail to customs Supdt, nine others

The Madras High Court bench today granted conditional bail to a Customs Superintendent and nine others against whom a case had been registered for attacking CBI officials and rescuing two central excise personnel when they were reportedly trapped in a bribery case on April 8.
Justice Gokul Dass directed all of them to appear before the police at Tallakullam daily till further others.
The prosecution case was that a CBI team had visited the Central excise and Service Tax office here on a complaint from one Muruganantham that the Customs Superintendent had demanded Rs 75,000 for adjudicating in a tax dispute case.

They set a trap and recovered the amount from Krishnan, sepoy of the department and also Rs two lakh from petitioner Ashok Raja (Superintendent of Customs and Central Excise).
The prosecution said 10 persons had barged into the room, attacked the CBI sleuths and rescued both Raja and Krishnan and destroyed all evidence.
On a complaint from CBI inspector Murugan, police registered a case against Raja and the nine others

All of them offered personal surety and said they would abide by the condition of the court and sought bail.
Their bail application was rejected by the lower court, following which they had moved the High Court.

Ashok Raj had surrendered before a court in Chennai on April 13, while three others were arrested the same day.
Five other accused had surrendered before a court at Vadipatti in this district on April 15.