LI Network
Published on: January 19, 2024 at 17:08 IST
The Delhi High Court has issued directions to its registry to notify former Team India cricket captain M.S. Dhoni about a defamation suit filed against him by his ex-business partners, Mihir Diwakar and Soumya Das.
The duo is seeking a permanent injunction and damages from Dhoni, aiming to prevent the spread of alleged defamatory statements regarding purported illegal gains amounting to Rs 15 crore and a breach of a 2017 contract.
Justice Prathiba M. Singh observed that Dhoni has not been formally served with the plea by the plaintiffs and deemed it appropriate to issue intimation to him.
The complaint also targets major platforms such as X, Google, YouTube, Meta (Facebook), and various news outlets, seeking the removal of allegedly defamatory articles and posts against them.
The Court instructed the registry to send an email to Dhoni at the provided email address and inform the law firm representing him. The case is scheduled for further hearing on January 29.
Dhoni recently filed a criminal case against Diwakar and Das, accusing them of defrauding him of approximately Rs 16 crore by not honoring a contract to establish cricket academies. This criminal case was allegedly filed in a Ranchi court against two directors of Aarka Sports, a sports management company, with whom Dhoni had entered into a contract.
The contract, focused on establishing cricket academies in India and globally, became a point of contention. Diwakar contends that Dhoni’s lawyer conducted a press conference on January 6, making damaging allegations against him and his wife. The ex-business partners argue that these allegations, widely reported in the media, have significantly tarnished Diwakar’s reputation.