I t started, as many big stories do these days, with a tweet. A blunt social media post by a mid-sized trading firm announced that it was shutting down its India operations after weeks of alleged harassment by Chennai Customs. Not a formal press release, not a court filing, but a post that instantly set off ripples.

The Finance Ministry then intervened with its own tweet, stating that an inquiry would be held. Before long, a well-known analyst was hinting that the exercise was less about justice and more about warning others against going public. In the space of a few hours, a commercial spat had been elevated into a drama about governance, accountability, and reputation.

The real worry isn’t whether one company had a bad run-in with officials. That happens and usually gets sorted in hu

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