IA No.1/26 CNR No. DLCT11-000331-2022 Complaint Case No.01/22 CIS No.21/2022 FIR No.ECIR/05/HIU/2017 ED Vs. Sukash Chandershekar @ Sukesh PS Directorate of Enforcement Under Section : 3 & 4 of PMLA ORDER

1. Applicant Sukash Chandershekar @ Sukesh has moved the present application seeking regular bail under section 483 read with section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS).

2. During the course of submissions, the arguments on behalf of the accused have been restricted to the plea for bail under section 479 (1) BNSS on the plea that the accused has now undergone detention for four years which is more than one half of the maximum period of detention specified for the offence under section 3, punishable under section 4 PMLA.

3. In view of the limited zone of consideration inter alia section 479 BNSS, the court would record at the outset that the out come of the plea is not contingent upon the merits of the allegations or the defence projected by the accused.

4. Yet, the allegations are noted, in brief, for context.

Allegations pertaining to the scheduled offence

5. The present ECIR No 05/HIU/2017 is predicated on the scheduled offence registered through FIR No.56/2017 PS Crime Branch, New Delhi under sections 170, 201, 419, 420, 468, 471, 474 & 120-B IPC and Section 8 of PC Act. The allegations from the said FIR are being noted below by the court.

6. After the demise of Ms. J. Jayalalithaa, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the political party AIADMK came to be split into two factions viz V.K. Sasikala faction to which accused no.2 (A-2) T.T.V. Dhinakaran belonged and E. Madhusudhanan faction. These factions now vied for 'Two Leaves' election symbol of AIADMK.

7. The matter was before the Election Commission of India (ECI) when A-2 T.T.V. Dhinakaran allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with accused no.1 (A-1) Sukash @ Sukesh Chandershekar, accused no.3 (A-3) T.P. Mallikarjun and accused no.7 (A-7) B. Kumar to secure a favourable order from ECI, on payment of gratification of Rs. Fifty Crores to A-1 Sukash @

Sukesh Chandershekar.

8. A-2 T.T.V. Dhinakaran purportedly also wanted a favourable order from ECI for declaring Bye-Elections for the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar Assembly Constituency in Tamil Nadu at an early date and preferred the Bye-Elections to be held on 05.05.2017, as he intended to be a candidate and considered

05.05.2017 to be an auspicious day for him.

9. A-2 T.T.V. Dhinakaran, with the help of A-3 T.P. Mallikarjun and the other co-accused persons allegedly sent a sum of Rs. Two Crores to A-1 Sukash @ Sukesh Chandrashekar, using hawala channels, from Chennai to Delhi. Out of this sum of Rs. Two Crores, Rs. One Crore Thirty Lakhs were recovered from the room at hotel Hyatt, New Delhi occupied by A-1 Sukash @ Sukesh Chandershekar.

10. A-1 Sukash @ Sukesh Chandrashekar also allegedly personated to be a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and had a false document viz the Identity Card of Rajya Sabha in his possession showing himself to be its member.

11. It is further alleged that A-1 Sukash @ Sukesh Chandershekar had got stickers of 'Member of Parliament' pasted on both the number plates i.e. front and rear of the car used by him by showing Sh. Narender s/o Sh. Panchu Ram the forged identity card of MP Rajya Sabha though he was not the Member of Rajya Sabha.

12. The other allegation against him is that he personated as Kamlesh before Shah Faizal at the time of receiving the gratification sent on behalf of A-2 T.T.V. Dhinakaran.

13. The FIR came to be registered after a chain of events which commenced when ACP Sanjay Sehrawat, Inter-State Cell (ISC), Crime, Chankayapuri, New Delhi received a reliable information on 15.04.2017 that one person Sukash @ Sukesh Chandershekar, a resident of Bengaluru, had checked-in at Hotel Hyatt Regency, New Delhi with one of his associates and was staying in Room No.263. He was learnt to be in constant touch with T.T.V. Dhinakaran, AIADMK (Sasikala faction) Deputy General Se