NEW DELHI: The AIADMK leader, who was arrested by the Delhi police Crime Branch, T T V Dhinakaran, has been put under five days of police custody on Wednesday.
“TTV Dinakaran was arrested on charges of attempting to bribe Election Commission officials to get favorable order in petition for 'Two leaves'. He arranged money from undisclosed sources and got it transferred through illegal channels from Chennai to Delhi” said Madhur Verma DCP-Crime Branch.
Police are expected to confront Dhinakaran with alleged middleman Sukesh Chandrasekar, who was arrested earlier, to identify the money trail. The cops are also expected to try and recover the mobile phones used by Dhinakaran to talk to Sukesh.
Dhinakaran along with his aid Mallikarjuna were produced in the Tis Hazari Court. “Mallikarjuna was arrested for helping Dhinakaran transfer the money. Police are trying to verify if Sukesh approached any EC official to influence the verdict in favour of Dhinakaran,” DCP Verma said.
In the proceedings which lasted 45 minutes Special Judge Poonam Chaudhary, who heard arguments on behalf of police and the defence counsel on the issue, allowed Delhi Police to quiz Dhinakaran in its custody till May 1.
According to the lawyers who were inside the court, the police had sought seven-day custodial interrogation of Dhinakaran and Mallikarjuna but were granted five.
The plea for custodial interrogation was vehemently opposed by senior lawyer Vikas Pahwa, representing Dhinakaran, saying the accused has been joining investigation for the last four days and the police has not produced any material as to why his grilling in custody was needed.
Meanwhile back in Chennai, squabbling factions of the party took yet another step to create conducive environment for talks on merger. While the EPS faction sent a positive signal by removing banners of party general secretary VK Sasikala from the AIADMK headquarters, the OPS faction called it a ‘positive step’.
R Vaithilingam, who is heading the negotiation committee on behalf of the EPS faction, said leaders of the OPS faction had officially conveyed their intention to begin merger talks. Sources added that formal talks may begin on Friday morning.