Madras High Court reserves order on retired IPS officer’s plea in Dhoni’s ₹100 crore defamation case

The Madras High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on an appeal filed by retired IPS officer Sampath Kumar, challenging a single-judge order that declined to reject a defamation suit filed by cricket icon MS Dhoni against him and others in connection with the 2013 IPL betting scandal.

After hearing arguments from both sides, a Division Bench comprising Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman reserved its verdict.

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The case pertains to a 2014 defamation suit filed by Dhoni against Zee Media Corporation, its then Editor and Business Head Sudhir Chaudhary, Sampath Kumar, and News Nation Network Pvt. Ltd., seeking ₹100 crore in damages for allegedly linking him to the IPL betting controversy.

Earlier, in December 2021, a single judge had dismissed Kumar’s plea, observing that it had been filed merely to delay the trial, which was about to begin.

Kumar had contended that he was an honest officer who had only performed his duty, and that the allegations against him were motivated, as a departmental inquiry had exonerated him.

The court, however, held that such contentions could serve as a defence during the trial but were not valid grounds to reject the plaint.

Despite the dismissal of Kumar’s plea in 2021, the trial was delayed. In August this year, the High Court directed the commencement of the trial and appointed an Advocate Commissioner to record Dhoni’s evidence. Subsequently, Kumar filed the present appeal along with a plea to condone the delay in challenging the 2021 order.