Poll symbol case: AIADMK leader sent to 5-day police custody

A special court today remanded AIADMK (Amma) leader T T V Dhinakaran in five days custody of Delhi Police which said it needs to unearth the money trail and entire conspiracy in the EC official 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 Delhi Police also secured warrants from the court to search the Chennai houses of Dhinakaran and Mallikarjuna as part of its probe.

While 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 if the accused could undermine the sanctity of the electoral process, they could do anything they pleased, a lawyer said.

He said 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. The police have claimed Chandrashekar was the middleman in the case.

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

The police's plea was vehemently opposed by senior lawyer Vikas Pahwa, representing Dhinakaran, on the ground that the accused has been joining investigation for the last four days and the police have not produced any material as to why his custody is needed.

Dhinakaran was produced in the court amid tight security with the police cordoning off the gallery outside the court room.

He was arrested by the police yesterday 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.