The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday confronted AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran with “conman” Sukesh Chandrasekhar, who is already in the agency’s custody, in connection with the alleged attempt to bribe an Election Commission official.
The agency’s money laundering probe is based on a case registered by the Delhi police, alleging a conspiracy to bribe an EC official to secure the AIADMK’s election symbol for Mr. Dhinakaran’s faction, ahead of the Chennai’s R.K. Nagar Assembly bypoll in April 2017.
Taking cognisance of the reports that huge sums of cash had been distributed to win over voters, the Commission had countermanded that byelection. The same month, the police arrested Mr. Dhinakaran, the “conman” and two others. As alleged, ₹10 crore was paid to the “conman” as a first instalment and the total amount for the entire deal was ₹50 crore.
While he was in judicial custody, Sukesh Chandrasekhar allegedly ran a cheating and extortion racket from behind bars, using mobile phones with caller ID spoofing apps. In one case, he allegedly cheated the wife of former Ranbaxy promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh of about ₹200 crore. Based on her complaint, the Delhi police arrested him, his wife Leena Maria Paul and others.
In the cheating case too, the ED initiated money-laundering investigation and has seized a sea-side bungalow in Chennai and 16 luxury vehicles, besides 2 kg of gold, allegedly belonging to Sukesh Chandrasekhar.
