EC bribery case: Delhi HC dismisses 'middleman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar's bail plea

'Middleman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar was arrested for allegedly taking money from Dhinakaran to bribe ECI officials to get the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol for the Sasikala faction.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of a middleman, arrested in Election Commission bribery case allegedly involving 'sidelined' AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran. 

'Middleman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar was arrested in April 2017 and has been denied bail once by the high court and thrice by the trial court.

Under the chargesheet, he has been accused of taking money from Dhinakaran to bribe the EC officials to get the AIADMK's two leaves symbol for the faction led by the former general secretary of the AIADMK, V Sasikala.

The charges against Chandrashekar include forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using the forged document as genuine and possessing a forged document, intending to use it as genuine, personating a public servant and criminal conspiracy.

Earlier, prosecutor Hiren Sharma opposed Chandrashekhar's bail plea saying three more cases have been registered against him while he was in custody and there are a total of 24 FIRs lodged against him.

Sharma had contended that the conduct of the accused showed he had no respect for the law. He also claimed that the accused had made a call to the trial court judge, hearing the case, impersonating as a person from a Supreme Court judge's office and asked her to release him on bail.

The call was traced to a constable's phone while Chandrashekhar was in custody, the prosecutor argued.

In December, the Delhi Police filed a supplementary chargesheet against Dhinakaran in the bribery case and charged him with criminal conspiracy and indulging in corruption.

Dhinakaran, who was not mentioned as an accused in the chargesheet filed by the police in July this year, has now been accused of offences under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of IPC, besides taking gratification by corrupt or illegal means to influence public servant under Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act).