6 months ago
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The Madras High Court, connected Tuesday (November 4, 2025), dismissed an appeal filed by retired Indian Police Service (IPS) serviceman G. Sampath Kumar against the assignment of an advocator commissioner to grounds the grounds of cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni successful a ₹100 crore defamation suit filed by the second for dragging his sanction successful to the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scam.
A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq refused to entertain the entreaty aft observing that the beingness of the cricketer successful the High Court would necessitate elaborate information arrangements to beryllium made and hence determination was thing incorrect successful having appointed an advocator commissioner to grounds his grounds elsewhere.
Further, holding that the appointment of the advocator commissioner by Justice C.V. Karthikeyan connected August 11 this twelvemonth was afloat successful consonance with the established procedures and that nary infirmity could beryllium recovered successful specified an appointment, the Division Bench said, nary prejudice would beryllium caused to the appellant excessively conscionable due to the fact that of the alternate statement made for signaling Mr. Dhoni’s evidence.
The judges besides made it wide that the cricketer’s grounds would beryllium recorded lone successful the beingness of the appellant oregon the latter’s counsel and that they would besides beryllium fixed an accidental to transverse analyse him. The Bench, further, expunged definite objectionable remarks made by the appellant against the judiciary successful his affidavit aft elder counsel P.R. Raman, representing Mr. Dhoni, brought them to the announcement of the court.
Unconditional apology
The Division Bench accepted an unconditional apology tendered by the retired IPS serviceman and expunged those remarks. The appellant had told the tribunal that helium was serving arsenic Superintendent of Police, ‘Q’ Branch CID (Internal Security) successful 2013 erstwhile helium stumbled into a cricket betting syndicate and unearthed a web of bookies portion investigating a fake passport scam.
He claimed that his investigating squad had interrogated a Chennai-based kingpin who exposed the full process of lucifer fixing. Subsequently, helium deposed earlier the Justice Mudgal Committee constituted by the Supreme Court regarding the issue. He besides claimed to person fallen prey to a sting cognition by a tv writer starring to the filing of the contiguous suit for damages.
The appellant said, the tv writer had recorded the speech that they some had regarding the cricket betting and telecasted the visuals connected February 23 successful 2014. Mr. Dhoni had instantly filed the defamation suit seeking a whopping magnitude of ₹100 crore successful damages from the appellant, the writer acrophobic and the tv channels which aired the videos.
In August this year, Justice Karthikeyan recovered the suit to beryllium pending without overmuch advancement for the past 10 years and ordered commencement of proceedings forthwith. He besides appointed an advocator commissioner for the introspection and transverse introspection of Mr. Dhoni astatine a mutually convenient place. Assailing the order, Mr. Kumar contended that each litigants indispensable beryllium treated arsenic and nary privielege indispensable beryllium accorded to celebrities.
