EC bribery row: Dinakaran's fate to be decided today; sources say there's enough evidence to prove his involvement
AIADMK ousted leader TTV Dinakaran will be grilled for the third day in a row today.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ousted leader TTV Dinakaran's fate will be decided on Monday, with the sources in crime branch saying, there is enough evidence to prove his involvement in an alleged attempt to bribe an Election Commission official for retaining the 'two leaves' party symbol and the related money trail.
Dinakaran, the nephew of jailed AIADMK chief Sasikala was on Sunday questioned by the police for the second day for close to seven hours.
"Monday's questioning will be crucial as Dinakaran fate will be decided today," said sources.
Sources also said that enough evidence has been gathered to prove that Dinakaran was the one who gave a go-ahead to Sukesh to pay bribes to get 'two leaves' party symbol.
Throughout the interrogation, Dhinakaran reportedly didn't accept that he knew Sukesh ​Chandrashekhar, an alleged middleman who has been arrested by the Crime Branch.
On Sunday, police had also quizzed two hawala dealers of New Delhi. They were the one who were in touch with Kochi-based hawala operators and transferred Rs 10 crore to Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
The 27-year-old had told Dinakaran that he has contacts in the Election Commission and his contacts will help the Sasikala faction get the AIADMK's poll symbol of two leaves in a byboll to the R K Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu.
Dhinakaran, who was appointed as Deputy General Secretary by Sasikala, has been isolated in his party amid moves to merge rival factions led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and his predecessor O Panneerselvam.
A powerful section of the ruling AIADMK (Amma) recently revolted against Sasikala-Dhinakaran leadership. The development came after Panneerselvam, who is leading the rival faction, demanded ouster of Sasikala and Dhinakaran as a condition for the merger.
Dhinakaran later announced he would stay away from party affairs and that he could be removed only by Sasikala.
Sasikala is at present serving a four-year jail term in Bengaluru in a disproportionate assets case.