EC bribery case: Court reserves order on bail plea of accused

Sukesh Chandrashekhar, who was arrested on April 16 and charge sheeted by the Delhi Police on July 14, has sought bail on the ground that his custody was not required as the investigation was complete.

His counsel argued that the other accused, including Dinakaran, were already out on bail.

The prosecutor, however, opposed the bail plea saying that the investigation in the case was still going on.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry, after hearing arguments, reserved the order yesterday on the bail plea for July 29.

Chandrashekhar was denied bail twice by a sessions court and then by the Delhi High Court.

Meanwhile, the court fixed August three for consideration on the issue of taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch has charge sheeted Chandrashekhar for alleged offences under the IPC including forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged document as genuine and possessing a forged document, intending to use it as genuine and criminal conspiracy.

He was also charged with alleged offence of taking gratification by illegal means to influence public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

If convicted, the offences carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The police have alleged in the charge sheet that Dinakaran and Chandrashekhar had conspired to bribe Election Commission (EC) officials to get the 'two leaves' symbol for their party.

They have told the court that a supplementary final report would be filed later against accused Dinakaran, his close aide T P Mallikarjuna, suspected hawala operators Nathu Singh and Lalit Kumar, who were out on bail, after completing the probe against them.

The police have claimed that money allegedly recovered from Chandrashekhar was sent by Dinakaran through unaccounted channels with the help of other accused persons.

Chandrashekhar was arrested for allegedly taking money from Dinakaran to bribe ECI officials to get the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol for the Sasikala faction.

According to the police, Rs 1.3 crore in cash was allegedly recovered from him at the time of the raid at a hotel in Chanakyapuri area of south Delhi.

Dinakaran was arrested here on the night of April 25 after four days of questioning for allegedly attempting to bribe ECI officials for the symbol. Mallikarjuna was also arrested the same day.

His faction had hoped to obtain the symbol for the by poll to the R K Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu which was later cancelled by the ECI after the alleged irregularities surfaced, according to the police.

The by poll was necessitated by the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa who represented the constituency.

The ECI had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after the two factions of the party -- one led by Dinakaran’s aunt Sasikala and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam staked a claim to it.

Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs 50 crore deal between Dinakaran and Chandrashekhar.

Dinakaran has been accused of arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels.