The entire scene was videographed and the wordy duel between Dr Swamy, who represents Madurai constituency in Lok Sabha, and the police personnel tape-recorded. The police personnel, who were present on bandobust duty, raised objections to opening the shop, citing city police commissioner M Ganesan's order to ensure that ``it is not opened''.

Aghast over a sub-inspector's objections to open the shop, Dr Swamy said the commissioner's instructions amounted to contempt of court.