EC bribery row: AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran arrested after 4 days of quizzing

Following 7 hours of questioning, Delhi Police late on Tuesday night arrested AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran and his aide Mallikarjun. Dinakaran is charged with trying to bribe Election Commission officials to get the party’s ‘two leaves’ symbol allotted to the ruling faction in Tamil Nadu.

The arrests were made on the testimony of Dinakaran’s PA Janardhan who is an eyewitness in the case, police said.

The alleged bribery case took a new turn on Tuesday when crime branch officers revealed that a hawala operator told them that he had personally handed over the bribe amount to the alleged middleman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

On Tuesday evening, after four days of questioning, the police had once again asked Dinakaran’s assistant Janarthan, friend Mallikarjuna and Advocate B Kumar to appear along with Dinakaran around 5 pm for questioning.

Not only did the operator identify Chandrashekhar, but also told police that he had been instructed to collect the money in form of a parcel, from Chennai, sources said.

Senior police officers said that the claims made by the hawala operator, identified as Shah Faisal, can be a crucial link in unearthing the money trail.