Delhi court allows accused in EC bribery case to travel abroad

A Delhi court Thursday allowed a senior advocate, who is an accused in the Election Commission bribery case involving AIADMK (Amma) faction leader T T V Dhinakaran, to travel abroad.

Special Judge Arun bhardwaj permitted Chennai-based B Kumar to travel to the US from April 27 to June 8 to visit his son who is living with his family there.

"The apprehension of the prosecution that applicant/accused will flee from justice is not based on any material. No tangible ground is made by the prosecution for not granting permission to applicant/accused to go abroad. Thus, keeping in view the facts and circumstances, the applicant/accused is permitted to travel abroad to the USA," the judge said.

The court also imposed certain conditions which included furnishing additional security in the form of bank guarantee of Rs 10 lakh or in the alternative a fixed deposit receipt of the like amount.

"The applicant/accused, B Kumar, shall furnish a detailed affidavit disclosing his detailed programme, including his stay at various stations abroad and telephone numbers and residential address before his departure," the judge said in his order.

"The applicant/accused, B Kumar, would be returning during summer vacations. Therefore, the applicant/accused shall inform the IO about his arrival in India within 48 hours of his return and shall surrender his passport to the IO. Thereafter, the IO shall deposit with this court the passport of applicant/accused B Kumar within two days of reopening of the courts," he said.

The court also said that Kumar will not contact or influence the prosecution witnesses.

The Delhi Police had earlier filed a supplementary charge sheet against Dhinakaran, Chandrashekhar, Mallikarjuna, a long-time friend of Dhinakaran, and six others in the case.

Dhinakaran has been accused of offences under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC, besides taking gratification by corrupt or illegal means to influence public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act).

The others have been accused of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and destruction of evidence under the IPC and provisions of the PC Act.

In its 701-page charge sheet, police had claimed that money recovered from Chandrashekar was sent by Dhinakaran through unaccounted channels with the help of other accused persons.

Chandrashekhar was named in the charge sheet for alleged offences of forgery of valuable security, forgery for the purpose of cheating, making a false document and criminal conspiracy under the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Dhinakaran, accused of trying to bribe EC officials to get the "two leaves" poll symbol for the AIADMK faction led by V K Sasikala, was arrested on April 25 and granted bail on June 1.

Police had accused Chandrashekhar, Dhinakaran and others of hatching a criminal conspiracy to bribe the Election Commission officials.