A Delhi court on Tuesday denied bail to Sukesh Chandrashekhar, a middleman who, last year, allegedly offered to help TTV Dinakaran secure the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s “two leaves” electoral symbol for the faction he belongs to, reported PTI.
Special judge Arvind Kumar denied relief to Chandrashekhar, saying it was not appropriate to grant him bail at this stage. The middleman remains in judicial custody.
The Election Commission had frozen the “two-leaves” symbol after the party split last year following the death of its leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016. Dinakaran, is the nephew of VK Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s close aide. The faction he belongs to is called the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Amma.
Dinakaran was arrested in April last year for attempting to bribe an Election Commission official through Chandrasekhar to retain the symbol. Chandrasekhar had told Dinakaran that the symbol would go to the Sasikala faction if he was paid Rs 50 crore.
In a chargesheet filed in July, the police claimed that the money recovered from Chandrashekar was sent by Dinakaran through unaccounted channels with the help of other accused persons.
In November, the Election Commission awarded the symbol to the faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam.
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