Delhi HC extends interim stay on trial court proceedings aginst TTV Dinakaran till March 27

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday extended an interim stay till March 27 on the proceedings in the trial court against Amma Makkal Munetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief TTV Dinakaran in connection with the 'two leaves' symbol bribery case.

The High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Sunil Gaur adjourned till March 27 the matter of Dinakaran and 3 other accused going on in Delhi's Patiala Court in a case of alleged attempt to bribe the Election Commission to get the 'two leaves' symbol for the AMMK.

The court also adjourned till April 30 hearing on another plea of Dinakaran for not giving his voice sample to the Delhi Police in connection with the case. The Investigating Officer has already served a notice on him asking him to give his voice sample.

During today's hearing, Dinakaran's lawyers Arvind Nigam and Naveen Malhotra told the court that the Supreme Court has reserved a judgement related to the case of taking voice sample of the accused without his consent and sought adjournment till the judgement is passed by the top court.

Dhinakaran had approached the High Court, challenging a trial court order which had framed charges under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 8 (bribes to influence public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against him.

Last year, the Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against 9 persons including Dinakaran in the Patiala House Court. He is currently on bail while middleman Chandrasekhar is currently in judicial custody.

The chargesheet alleged that middleman Sukesh Chandansekar had conspired with TTV Dinakaran to bribe the Election Commission (EC) officials to get the two leaves symbol. TTV was also named as an accused in a supplementary chargesheet.

The conflict arose out of competing claims over AIADMK's two leaves election symbol from the Dhinakaran-Sasikala faction on the one side and Palaniswami-Panneerselvam camp on the other side.

Soon after the death of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016, the party split into two factions. While one faction was led by Sasikala-Dhinakaran-Panneerselvam, the other was headed by Palaniswami. However, Panneerselvam and Palaniswami joined hands later to oust Sasikala and Dhinakaran from the party.