Poll Symbol Case: Dhinakaran Sent To Five-Day Police Custody

A special court on Wednesday remanded AIADMK (Amma) leader TTV Dhinakaran in five days custody of Delhi Police which said it needs to unearth the money trail and entire conspiracy in an Election Commission bribery case.

The court also sent Mallikarjuna, an associate of Dhinakaran who was arrested along with the politician last night, to police custody till May 1.

The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police also secured warrants from the court to search the Chennai houses of Dhinakaran and Mallikarjuna as part of its probe.

Though the police sought seven days custody of both the accused, Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry allowed them to question the duo for five days.

The proceedings, which lasted 45 minutes, were not open to mediapersons, who were asked to leave the courtroom after the accused were brought in.

Prosecutor Balbir Singh argued that the police required the custody of the accused to recover Rs 10 crore allegedly given to arrested co-accused Sukesh Chandrashekar and to unearth the money trail as the amount came through hawala channels. Chandrashekar is the alleged middleman in the case.

The police need to recover the mobile phones through which Dhinakaran communicated with Chandrashekar and two of the accused were required to be taken to Chennai and confronted with Chandrasekhar, the prosecutor added.

The police's plea was vehemently opposed by senior lawyer Vikas Pahwa, representing Dhinakaran, who said the the police have not produced any material to prove that his custody is needed.

Dhinakaran was arrested by the police on Tuesday after four days of questioning for allegedly attempting to bribe an Election Commission official to get the undivided AIADMK's 'two leaves' election symbol for his faction.

Mallikarjuna, who had been accompanying Dhinakaran everywhere ever since Chandrasekar's arrest on April 16, was also arrested for facilitating an alleged Rs 50-crore deal between the leader and Chandrasekar.