Chennai: A day after a Delhi court remanded AIADMK (Amma) leader TTV Dhinakaran to five-day police custody, a team from the Delhi Police Crime Branch flew to Chennai with him and his associate Mallikarjuna to collect further evidence. Mr Dhinakaran has been booked for allegedly attempting to bribe officials of the Election Commission to get the “Two Leaves” symbol for his faction of the AIADMK.
Immediately after their arrival at the airport, the team took Mr Dhinakaran and Mr Mallikarjuna to a guesthouse at Rajaji Bhavan in Besant Nagar for some rest. At around 4.15 pm, the team took the duo to Mr Dhinakaran’s residence in upscale Adyar where they questioned the AIADMK leader’s wife Anuradha and her personal assistant, Janardhanam. “After two hours of interrogation at Dhinakaran’s residence, Mallikarjuna was taken to TTV’s office at Krishna Group Apartments at Karpagam Garden for inquiry and was again brought back to Dinakaran’s house in 30 minutes. Later a team of police took Mallikarjuna to his house in Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar to conduct searches,” sources said.
The Delhi Police team, headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Sanjay Sherawat, is understood to have questioned Ms Anuradha about the money trail. The sources said Mr Dhinakaran’s wife was questioned along with Mallikarjuna since he handles all her bank accounts and financial transactions. Dhinakaran’s arrest came a week after Delhi Police took into their custody alleged conman Sukash Chandrasekhar from a luxury hotel in New Delhi with Rs.1.3 crore cash meant for bribing an unnamed EC official. . Police claimed Sukash had struck a deal for Rs 50 crore to help the AIADMK (Amma) faction keep the “Two Leaves” symbol.
Dhinakaran was arrested for allegedly arranging the amount from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels. Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly helping Dhinakaran transfer this money from Chennai to Delhi. The police had secured warrants from a Delhi court to search the Chennai residences of Dhinakaran and Mallikarjuna as part of its probe. “The transaction had taken place through some Chennai operators and there are possibilities that the team can obtain some data through their laptops and computers,” a senior officer said.
