Fresh trouble for Sasikala camp, Delhi police books Dinakaran in bribery case

VK Sasikala's nephew Dinakaran was allegedly told by Sukesh Chander, a middleman, that the AIADMK party symbol - which was frozen by the Election Commission last month ahead of the RK Nagar bypoll - would go to the Dinakaran-Sasikala camp if he was paid Rs 60 crore.

According to TV reports, the middleman was picked by the Delhi police based on a tip-off. The police recovered cash worth Rs 1.3 crores from him.

During the interrogation, the aide spilled the beans and named Dinakaran. He was reportedly told to bribe the Election Commission to keep the party's original symbol of "two leaves".

Last month, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had frozen the symbol ahead of the RK Nagar bypoll.

Mostly recently, reports out of Tamil Nadu had claimed that at least 20 senior AIADMK leaders had asked Dinakaran that he and general secretary Sasikala, who is now in prison in Bengaluru, should step down to pave the way for the merger with the O Panneerselvam (OPS) group. 

The dissidents have then reportedly told Dinakaran that this was the only way for the party to reclaim the frozen “two leaves” symbol.

• dinakaran
• bribery case
• Delhi police
• sasikala camp