JOIN USDhinakaran-EC bribe case: 'hawala' dealer held
The Delhi Police on Friday arrested a suspected hawala dealer here in connection with the Election Commission bribery case involving AIADMK (Amma) leader T T V Dhinakaran.
Nathu Singh was apprehended from the Indira Gandhi International airport for his “involvement” in the illegal transfer of money to Sukesh Chandrasekhar, a suspected middleman, whose arrest led to the unravelling of the case. With this, four people have been arrested in the case.
According to investigators, Singh was given Rs 1 crore to hand over to Chandrasekhar. Singh was produced before a local court later in the day, and remanded to police custody for two days.
Chandrasekhar was also produced before the court, which sent him to judicial custody till May 12.
Investigators had earlier claimed that Dhinakaran, who was arrested along with his aide Mallikarjun on April 25, arranged the money from undisclosed sources and used illegal channels to transfer it from Chennai to Delhi.
Dhinakaran struck a deal with Chandrasekhar for Rs 50 crore to ensure that his faction gets the AIADMK’s two-leaf symbol.
Earlier, police sources had said that the money reached Chandni Chowk from Kochi through the hawala network. When arrested, Chandrasekhar was in possession of Rs 1.3 crore.
Investigators also said that Dhinakaran was desperate to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, and admitted to meeting Chandrasekhar.
However, Dhinakaran told the police that Chandrasekhar was introduced to him as a high court judge, but no money was exchanged.
The police took Dhinakaran and Mallikarjun to Chennai on Thursday where sleuths searched their residences. In Chennai, the Delhi Police also questioned a man suspected to have helped Dhinakaran transfer the funds.
DH News Service