EC bribery case: Notice to police on bail plea of accused

A court on Monday issued notice to Delhi Police's Crime Branch on the bail plea of an alleged middleman Sukesh Chandrashekar in the cash for election symbol case, involving AIADMK leader and party General Secretary V.K. Sasikala's nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry sought response from Delhi Police on Chandrashekar's plea and posted the matter for arguments on June 7.

Filing a bail application, Chandrashekar sought parity with Dinakaran, who was granted bail on June 1.

Chandrashekar said that Dinakaran was granted bail even though he was more influential than him. Arrested on April 16, he claimed he had been made a "scapegoat and falsely implicated" in the case.

On May 22, the court had dismissed the bail plea of Chandrashekar saying it was not appropriate to grant him bail at this stage as it was a serious crime and he could tamper with the evidence. On Monday, he again approached the court for bail.

Dinakaran has been accused of allegedly arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels, while his close aide Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs 50 crore deal between Dinakaran and Chandrashekar to get favourable order from the poll panel.

Dinakaran was arrested on April 25 by the Crime Branch on allegations of attempting to bribe Election Commission officials to obtain a favourable verdict from so that the now frozen 'two leaves' party symbol could be restored to Sasikala's faction of the AIADMK.

The poll panel had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after two factions of the party -- one led by Sasikala and the other by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam -- staked claim to it.

Along with Dinakaran, Mallikarjuna was also granted bail on June 1.

On Tuesday, the court will pronounce its order on the bail pleas of suspected hawala operator Nathu Singh and co-accused Lalit Kumar, who are in judicial custody.

--IANS

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