Former Amazon India seller says antitrust raid illegally detained employees

NEW DELHI, June 11 (Reuters): A former top seller for Amazon in India, Cloudtail, has accused India's antitrust agency of illegally detaining its employees during a raid over suspected competition law violations, court documents seen by Reuters show.

Cloudtail, among a handful of online sellers raided in an investigation of Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart over suspected preferential treatment on e-commerce platforms, argued in a court filing the detentions were cause for disallowing materials taken during the raid.

"[Three] employees from the senior management were detained for over 30 hours through the night till the completion of the search & seizure operation," the May 30 filing said. The operation was conducted on April 28 and 29.

Cloudtail and Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.

A senior source at the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which conducted the raid, rejected the allegations, saying it had obtained the requisite legal approvals and was in line with the watchdog's regulatory processes. The source was not authorised to speak to the media and declined to be identified.

Cloudtail's filing marks an escalating tussle between India's increasingly assertive authorities and the foreign e-commerce players that, along with their affiliates, dominate the country's booming online retail sector.

For years, small traders - a key constituency for Prime Minister Narendra Modi - have alleged that foreign giants favour selected sellers online, in violation of Indian laws. The companies deny those allegations.

This is not the only sector, moreover, where Indian authorities have recently ended up in public legal wrangling with foreign enterprises.