Hawala operator arrested from Delhi airport for transferring money from Dinakaran to Sukesh

The Delhi Police's Crime Branch arrested a hawala operator from the city airport on Friday morning for allegedly transferring money for T T V Dinakaran, the deputy general secretary All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Amma faction.

The accused has been identified as Naresh Jain and arrested for transferring around Rs 10 crore from Dinakaran to the middleman Sukesh Chandrasekar via hawala channels.

An investigating officer said Naresh Jain is a friend of Chandrasekar and had helped him in transferring money in the past as well.

Police said they will interrogate Jain and help identify the other accused involved in the case.

"Jain helped Chandrasekar arrange Rs 10 crore in Delhi, which was part of Dinakaran's deal," a senior police officer said.

The arrest came after Thursday's operation at Dinakaran's house and the interrogation of his family members, including wife and employees, in Chennai.

It is assumed that Chandrasekar was working on behalf of Dinakaran, seeking to secure the 'two leaves' symbol for AIADMK (Amma) from the Election Commission in exchange for a bribe of Rs 50 crore.

The 'two leaves' symbol was frozen by the poll panel, following infighting and the eventual spilt of AIADMK into two factions – which is now split into AIADMK (Amma) and AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) – after former party supremo J Jayalalithaa's death.

The Crime Branch had earlier recovered about Rs 1.3 crore and two luxury cars, a BMW and a Mercedes, from Chandrasekar during a raid at a South Delhi hotel.

Dinakaran was cross-examined along with his 'friend' Mallikarjuna and P A Janardhanan, police said.

A team of Crime Branch is looking for all the middlemen, including Chennai-based bureaucrats and officials of the EC, who were in touch with Chandrasekar and Dinakaran in this money transfer.

Chandrasekar, who has in the past been booked in more than a dozen cheating cases, told a city court that he was threatened inside the court premises.

After his complaint, police had also increased security outside the court.