Dinakaran remanded in five-day police custody

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) A court here on Wednesday sent sidelined AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dinakaran, arrested on the charge of attempting to bribe Election Commission officials, to five-day police custody.

Mallikarjuna, a longtime friend of Dinakaran, who too was arrested on Tuesday night, has also been remanded in police custody till May 1.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhary allowed the Crime Branch to quiz Dinakaran, a nephew of jailed AIADMK party chief V.K. Sasikala, for five days after the Delhi Police sought his custody to unearth the entire conspiracy.

Dinakaran was arrested on Tuesday night by the Delhi Police Crime Branch for trying to pay out Rs 50 crore in bribes to the poll officials through Sukesh Chandrasekhar to ensure the 'two leaves' poll symbol was allotted to the AIADMK faction led by Sasikala.

Media persons were not allowed to attend the court proceedings. The court directed the media to leave the courtroom when the accused were brought in.

The lawyers present at the hearing told IANS that the police sought seven-day custodial interrogation of both Dinakaran and Mallikarjuna since, it said, they were required to be taken out of Delhi and confronted with co-accused Sukesh Chandrasekhar, who is in police custody till April 28.

Public Prosecutor Balbir Singh told the court that their custodial interrogation is required to unearth the money trail as well.

Defence counsel and senior lawyer Vikas Pahwa opposed the police plea, saying Dinakaran had joined investigation, whenever required. He also said that Dinakaran has cooperated with the Crime Branch in the probe.

Chandrasekhar was arrested from a south Delhi hotel on April 16 night, allegedly with Rs 1.3 crore meant for bribing poll panel officials.

Chandrasekhar allegedly told the police he was Dinakaran's "middleman" and was asked to pay the money to the officials for allotting the 'two leaves' party symbol to AIADMK's Sasikala faction.