New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday sent AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran to five-day police custody. Dinakaran was arrested by the Delhi police on Tuesday night after four days of grilling in the EC bribery case. He was accused of trying to bribe an Election Commission (EC) official to retain the AIADMK symbol of two leaves for his party, AIADMK (Amma), for the RK Nagar bypolls in Tamil Nadu.
The RK Nagar constituency was held by former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa until her death on 5 December 2016, necessitating the bypolls.
Dinakaran’s longtime friend Mallikarjuna was also arrested after being quizzed by the police. Mallikarjuna had been accompanying Dhinakaran everywhere ever since Sukesh Chandrasekar, the middleman in the EC bribery case, was arrested, police said.
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19 April 2025
Sources said that Dhinakaran’s PA Janardhanan has agreed to be a witness in the case. Dhinakaran had yesterday confessed to meeting Chandrasekar, assuming he was a high court judge. He had, however, denied that he paid money to the middleman for retaining the partys poll symbol.
The controversial AIADMK leader had come under the scanner after the arrest of Chandrasekar and had maintained that he never met him. He was earlier summoned by Delhi Police at his Chennai residence in the case.
Dhinakaran, who was appointed deputy general secretary by AIADMK chief V S Sasikala, has been isolated in his party amid moves to merge rival factions led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami and his predecessor O Panneerselvam.
