The ED this week summoned AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran for questioning for allegedly bribing Election Commission officials for AIADMK’s ‘two-page’ symbol VK Shashikala group, officials said on Wednesday.
The move comes after the agency recently arrested jailed ‘Conman’ and another accused in the case, Sukesh Chandrasekhar.
Both Dhinakaran and Chandrasekhar were arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch in 2017. Officials say they recorded Chandrasekhar’s statement in the case earlier this month and now want to question Dhinakaran to move the investigation forward.
The 58-year-old AMMK general secretary has been asked to testify before the agency here on April 8, they said. His statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as soon as he gives a statement.
Chandrasekhar was arrested by Delhi Police in April 2017 from a five-star hotel for allegedly taking money from Dhinakaran to bribe EC officials to get AIADMK’s ‘two page’ symbol for the VK Shashikala group in the RK Nagar Assembly constituency by-election. In Tamil Nadu.
Dhinakaran, who was also charged by the police, was also arrested by the Delhi Police after a four-day interrogation on charges of trying to bribe EC officials for the symbol.
The by-election was called off due to the death of the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who represented the assembly constituency.
The ECA froze the AIADMK symbol after two parties – one led by Dinakaran’s aunt Shashikala and the other by former chief minister and Panirselvam – demanded it.
Mallikarjun, a close associate of Dhinakaran, was also arrested on charges of facilitating a Rs 50 crore deal between him and Chandrasekhar. Dhinakaran was the treasurer of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazgam (AIADMK) and was expelled from the party in August 2017 along with Jayalalithaa’s confidant Shashikala. He later started his own political party called Amma Makkal Munetra Kazgam (AMMK).
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