Election Commision Bribery Case: Too Early For Accused Middleman To Seek Bail

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said it was too early for Sukesh Chandrashekar, arrested in the Election Commission bribery case involving AIADMK (Amma) leader TTV Dhinakaran, to seek bail as there were other cases pending against him.

Justice Ashutosh Kumar also raised concern over recovery of fake Rajya Sabha member ID card from his possession during the investigation, saying it gave him access to enter any place, which was a serious security threat.

"You need to wait for sometime. There are over 21 cases on you and that too are of serious in nature. You cannot ask for bail at this point of time," the court observed orally.

It, however, asked senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, appearing for Mr Chandrashekar, to give a list of cases against him and their status by the next date of hearing, September 8.

The court's direction came after Mr Chandrashekar, an alleged middleman, urged the court to grant him bail on the ground that he had been in jail for over four months.

"The investigation has been completed and charge sheet was also filed in the (EC bribery) case," his counsel said, adding that other accused have been granted bail.

Mr Chandrashekar, who was arrested on April 16, has been denied bail once by the high court and thrice by the trial court.

The high court had on June 15 rejected his bail plea on the ground that the police had seized a fake Rajya Sabha member ID card from his possession.

A chargesheet was filed by the police before the trial court in the case on July 14 alleging that Mr Dhinakaran and Mr Chandrashekar had conspired to bribe Election Commission (EC) officials to get the 'two leaves' symbol for their party.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch also included in the charge sheet allegations of forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged document as genuine, possessing a forged document, intending to use it as genuine and criminal conspiracy.

Mr Chandrashekar had moved the high court alleging that he was tortured despite an order not to subject him to violence inside the Tihar Jail where he is in custody.

The claim was denied by the jail authorities, who said it was an "afterthought of the shrewd mind of the accused".

The high court on July 24 had warned of "serious action" over the allegations of torture and said any such incident would not be tolerated.

Besides Mr Chandrashekar and Mr Dhinakaran, his close aide Mr Mallikarjuna, suspected hawala operators Nathu Singh and Lalit Kumar have been granted bail.

Mr Chandrashekar was arrested for allegedly taking money from Mr Dhinakaran to bribe EC officials to get the AIADMK 'two leaves' symbol for the Ms Sasikala faction in a by-election to the RK Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Dhinakaran was arrested here on the night of April 25 after four days of questioning for allegedly attempting to bribe EC officials for the symbol.

His faction had hoped to obtain the symbol for the bypoll to the RK Nagar Assembly seat, which was later cancelled by the EC after the alleged irregularities were reported. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who represented the constituency.

The EC had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after the two factions -- one led by Mr Dhinakaran's aunt Ms Sasikala and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam -- staked a claim to it.

Mr Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs. 50 crore deal between Mr Dhinakaran and Mr Chandrashekar. Mr Dhinakaran has been accused of arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels.