EC bribery case: Court grants bail to Dinakaran, aide

New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) A court here on Thursday granted bail to AIADMK leader and party General Secretary V.K. Sasikala's nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran and his close aide Mallikarjun in the cash for election symbol case.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry granted bail to both accused and asked them to furnish a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh each and two sureties of the like amount.

Granting relief to the duo, the court said they were "no longer required for custodial interrogation". The two were however asked not to leave the country without the court's prior permission, to surrender their passports and join the investigation as and when required by the investigating agency.

They were also directed not to try to influence the witnesses or tamper with evidence. The court also observed that the public servants, who were to be allegedly lured, have not been identified.

Dinakaran was arrested on April 25 by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch on allegations of attempting to bribe Election Commission officials to obtain a favourable verdict from so that the now frozen 'two leaves' party symbol could be restored to Sasikala's faction of the AIADMK.

The poll panel had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after two factions of the party -- one led by Sasikala and the other by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam -- staked claim to it.

Dinakaran had sought bail on the ground that there was no reason to keep him in custody and no public servant was made an accused in the case, though he was booked on graft charges. Police had opposed his bail plea.

Mallikarjuna, who was also arrested on April 25, sought bail on the ground that no recovery was made at his instance and he had joined the investigation even though no summons were issued to him by the police. His bail application was also opposed by police.

Dinakaran has been accused of allegedly arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels, while Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs 50 crore deal between Dinakaran and alleged middleman Sukesh Chandrashekar to get favourable order from the poll panel.

On May 22, the court had dismissed the bail plea of Chandrashekar saying it was not appropriate to grant him bail at this stage as it was a serious crime and he could tamper with the evidence.