The Madras High Court (HC) on December 9 rejected a plea from IPS officer G Sampath Kumar seeking to set aside the defamation proceedings initiated by MS Dhoni against him.
The issue goes back to a defamation case filed by former India captain and current Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2014. Dhoni had filed the defamation suit claiming Rs 100 crore towards a media firm and others for allegedly broadcasting spiteful news that he was involved in betting and fixing of IPL matches in 2014. The case is under investigation as per the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 499.
Dhoni sought to restrain the defendants, including Kumar, who initially probed the IPL betting scam from issuing statements and publishing them.
The plea was filed to put aside the defamation case and to solely focus on a pending case of spot-fixing from 2014. In a hearing on Thursday (December 10) in the Madras HC, Justice N Seshasayee rejected the plea as it stood no grounds. IPS Kumar and the news firm had released IPL betting scam statements and published them in 2014.
Earlier, Justice S Tamilvanan (now retired) granted the interim injunction restraining the defendants from filing the plea. Dhoni who will continue to don the CSK jersey in the upcoming IPL as well, has guided his side to four titles while he also helped now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants to the final of IPL in 2017 during CSK’s two-year ban.
