All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) leader TTV Dinakaran was arrested in Delhi on Tuesday night after four days of questioning by the police. He has been accused of attempting to bribe an Election Commission official to retain the party’s “two leaves” symbol for his faction.
Dinakaran, who is AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala’s nephew, had been called for questioning at the Crime Branch Inter State Cell office in Chanakyapuri at 5 pm and was arrested around midnight, said Praveer Ranjan, joint commissioner of police (crime).
The party deputy general secretary’s aide Mallikarjuna has also been taken into custody questioning by the police for two days. However, his role in the cash-for-symbol scandal is not clear yet. The two will be produced before a court on Wednesday afternoon where the Delhi Police will seek remand for custodial interrogation, reported NDTV.
Dinakaran’s Personal Assistant Janardhana is believed to have agreed to be a witness in the case, according to PTI. The arrest came hours after a special court had asked the Delhi Police why no action had been taken against Dinakaran when they had produced suspected middleman Sukesh Chandrasekhar to extend his custody.
While Dinakaran admitted to meeting with Chandrasekhar, he denied conspiring to bribe Election Commission officials to retain the party’s symbol. Chandrasekhar had allegedly told Dinakaran that the AIADMK’s “two leaves” symbol would go to the Sasikala faction if he was paid Rs 50 crore. The police will now conduct searches at Chandrasekhar’s Kochi residence to trace the amount he claims he was paid.
On April 17, the Delhi Police had filed an FIR against Dinakaran after arresting Chandrasekhar from a hotel room in the Capital the previous day. The Election Commission had frozen the party’s symbol following the AIADMK’s split into two factions, one led by Sasikala and the other by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. Both camps had staked claim to it.
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