In EC bribery case, Dinakaran confesses to meeting middleman

The AIADMK leader, however, told cops he believed that the arrested middleman -- Sukesh Chandrasekhar -- was a high court judge.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Amma leader TTV Dinakaran has confessed to meeting Sukesh Chandrasekhar, the arrested middleman in the Election Commission bribery case, under the impression that he was a high court judge, police said.

Dinakaran, who is being grilled by the Delhi Police for the third consecutive day, had so far maintained that did not know Sukesh nor had he met him.

The leader, who is accused of trying to bribe an Election Commission official in a bid to retain the ‘two-leaves’ symbol of AIADMK, however, denied having paid any money to Sukesh in this regard, police said.

On Monday, Dinakaran was questioned for over five hours.

He had reached the Crime Branch Inter State Cell office in Chanakyapuri around 3.30 pm, even as the police started by interrogating his personal assistant Janardhan.

They also quizzed his long-time friend Mallikarjuna, who has been accompanying him everywhere ever since Sukesh was arrested, police said.

It was only around 6 pm that Dinakaran’s questioning began, they said.

On sustained quizzing, Dinakaran said he had met Sukesh, who had posed as a high court judge and sought to help him in the matter, police sources said.

However, he denied paying money to the middleman, the sources said, adding the Crime Branch officers also confronted Dinakaran and Sukesh.

The leader had come under scanner after the arrest of the alleged middleman Sukesh and had since maintained having no idea about him.

On Sunday, he was grilled by the police for 11 hours.

The controversial leader was earlier summoned by Delhi Police at his Chennai residence in the case.

Having been appointed as deputy general secretary by jailed AIADMK chief V S Sasikala, Dinakaran 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-Dinakaran leadership. The development came after Panneerselvam, who is leading the rival faction, demanded the ouster of Sasikala and Dinakaran as a condition for the merger. 

Dinakaran 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.

Image: Dinakaran arriving to appear before Delhi police for questioning in connection with an alleged attempt to bribe an EC official for retaining the two leaves party symbol. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo