3 months ago
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The Madras High Court has asked cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni to deposit ₹10 lakh for transcribing and translating the contents of compact discs presented successful the tribunal successful a ₹100-crore defamation suit filed by him successful 2014 against a retired a retired IPS officer, a fewer journalists and tv channels for dragging his sanction into the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scam.
Justice R.N. Manjula said, lone the plaintiff would person to carnivore the costs of transcription and translation of the materials particularly erstwhile the Interpreter of the High Court had reported it was a humongous task which would instrumentality astir 3 to 4 months adjacent if 1 interpreter and a typist were deployed for the enactment exclusively. The interpreter conception besides assessed the outgo to beryllium ₹10 lakh.
Hence, the justice directed the cricketer to deposit ₹10 lakh with the Chief Justice’s Relief Fund connected oregon earlier March 12, 2026 truthful that the 12-year-old defamation suit, which had got delayed owed to aggregate interim litigations, could beryllium proceeded further. The suit had been filed against Zee Media Corporation, writer Sudhir Chaudhary, retired IPS officer G. Sampath Kumar and News Nation Network.
12-year hold successful trial
However, the proceedings successful the suit had got delayed for implicit 12 years due to the fact that of aggregate applications by the parties seeking 1 alleviation oregon another. In December 2023, a Division Bench of Justices S.S. Sundar (since retired) and Sunder Mohan had convicted the retired IPS serviceman of transgression contempt of court and sentenced him to 15 days of elemental imprisonment. However, the Supreme Court stayed the punishment successful 2024.
Mr. Dhoni had filed the contempt plea against the retired IPS serviceman for having made contumacious remarks against the Supreme Court and the High Court portion defending the defamation suit. In July 2022, the past Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram had granted support to the cricketer to proceed with the contempt plea, aft being satisfied that the remarks made by Mr. Kumar, successful his written connection to the suit, amounted to scandalising tribunal proceedings.
Finally connected August 11, 2025, Justice C.V. Karthikeyan ordered commencement of proceedings and appointed an advocator commissioner to grounds the grounds of Mr. Dhoni astatine a mutally convenient premises since it was felt that insisting upon the cricketer’s idiosyncratic quality earlier the Master’s tribunal located wrong the High Court premises, for introspection arsenic good arsenic transverse examination, mightiness pb to chaos owed to him being a celebrity.
Mr. Sampath Kumar took this bid excessively an entreaty earlier a Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq who dismissed the entreaty successful November 2025 aft observing 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.
