Dinakaran claims middleman said he's HC judge: Police

New Delhi, April 24: AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dinakaran has revealed during questioning that he was under the assumption that middleman Sukesh Chandrasekhar was a High Court judge who could help him in striking a deal to bag the two-leaf poll symbol, the Delhi Police said on Monday.

Dinakaran, a nephew of jailed AIADMK chief V.K. Sasikala, has been grilled for the last three days by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police regarding an alleged deal he struck to bribe Election Commission officials to get the 'two leaves' symbol for his faction of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

Crime Branch officers quoted Dinakaran as saying that Chandrasekhar introduced himself to the AIADMK leader as a High Court judge and offered to help him win the party symbol, assuring him that he had contacts with Election Commission officials.

Dinakaran -- grilled for seven hours on Saturday and 11 hours on Sunday -- said he believed Chandrasekhar's claim and did not know he was a con man, the police said.

The officers told IANS that they have collected enough evidence to prove that Dinakaran gave the go-ahead to Chandrasekhar to pay bribes to get the 'two leaves' symbol.

"We questioned Chandrasekhar and also examined Dinakaran's Call Details Records to find that they were both in constant touch with each other. Some audio recording of their telephonic conversation too has been recovered," a senior police officer said.

The officer said the accused were in touch with Kochi- and Old Delhi-based hawala operators who transferred Rs 10 crore to Chandrasekhar. 

Dinakaran's Personnel Assistant Janardhanan was also questioned and asked if he knew Chandrasekhar, who was arrested from a five-star hotel on April 16.

The Delhi Police have booked Dinakaran on the charge of attempting to bribe EC officials through Chandrasekar to get a favourable verdict in 'two leaves' poll symbol case.

The police said a Rs 50-crore deal was struck to bribe election panel officials to swing the verdict in the case in favour of Dinakaran's faction of the AIADMK.