The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against AIADMK (Amma) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran and his associates, based on an FIR registered by the Delhi police in connection with the Election Commission bribery case. He is currently in judicial custody.
The police probe is into the alleged conspiracy for bribing a senior EC official to get the AIADMK’s “Two Leaves” election symbol for Mr. Dhinakaran’s faction for the R.K. Nagar Assembly byelection in Chennai.
The poll body had later cancelled the election based on evidence that huge sums of cash and gifts had been distributed to influence voters.
The police have arrested Mr. Dhinakaran, his associate Mallikarjuna, alleged middleman Sukesh Chandrasekhar and “hawala operator” Naresh.
They claim to have established the link between him and Chandrasekhar based on phone records. Three more persons are under the scanner.
Money trail
On its part, the ED will pursue the money trail as it is alleged that the first instalment of ₹10 crore had already been paid to Chandrasekhar for the ₹50-crore deal. The police have so far recovered ₹1.3 crore in cash that was transported from Chennai to Delhi by cars, it is alleged.
Mr. Dhinakaran was arrested here on April 25 after several rounds of questioning.
He was also taken to Chennai for reconstruction of the sequence of events and recoveries.
