AIADMK (Amma) leader TTV Dhinakaran, accused of trying to bribe an Election Commission official in a bid to retain the 'two-leaves' symbol of AIADMK, was on Tuesday night arrested after four days of questioning by the Delhi Police.
Dhinakaran, a nephew of jailed AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala, was called on Monday for questioning at 5 PM at the Crime Branch Inter State Cell office in Chanakyapuri and was arrested around midnight, Praveer Ranjan, joint commissioner of police (crime), said.
His longtime friend Mallikarjuna has also been arrested after being quizzed for the second day on the trot, he said.
Mallikarjuna had been accompanying Dhinakaran everywhere ever since Sukesh Chandrsekar, the middleman in the EC bribery case, was arrested, police said.
Dhinakaran had on Monday confessed to meeting Chandrsekar, assuming he was a high court judge.
Dhinakaran, however, maintained that he did not pay any money to Sukesh in this regard, police said on Monday.
He was questioned by the police on Monday for over 7 hours while his questioning lasted for nearly 11 hours on Sunday.
Having been appointed as deputy general secretary by Sasikala, Dhinakaran has been isolated in his party amid moves to merge rival factions led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and his predecessor O Panneerselvam.
A powerful section of the ruling AIADMK (Amma) recently revolted against Sasikala-Dhinakaran leadership. The development came after Panneerselvam, who is leading the rival faction, demanded ouster of Sasikala and Dhinakaran as a condition for the merger.
Dhinakaran later announced he would stay away from party affairs and that he could be removed only by Sasikala. Sasikala is at present serving a four-year jail term in Bengaluru in a disproportionate assets case.
