The Madras High Court on Thursday quashed IPS officer G Sampath Kumar’s plea to dismiss the defamation charges put against him by cricketer MS Dhoni. Any order at this point would affect the development of the main case, which has been pending since 2014, said Justice N Seshasayee, who dismissed Kumar’s petition.
In 2014, Dhoni initiated a defamation suit against a TV media company and others, claiming Rs 100 crore in damage for allegedly telecasting malicious news that he was involved in match-fixing, betting and spot of IPL matches. He wanted the defendants, including Kumar, who was the first to investigate the IPL betting scandal, to refrain from making statements and publishing them.
Since February 11, 2014, Dhoni, the captain of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise, has claimed that the defendants have been publishing highly defamatory, scandalous, and libellous false allegations and remarks against him. The defendants’ main goal was to tarnish and damage his reputation in the eyes of millions of his supporters and cricket fans around the world. He requested that the accused be ordered to pay Rs 100 crore in damages. And earlier then Justice S Tamilvanan granted an interim injunction preventing defendants from doing so.
The aggrieved, Sampath Kumar, filed a plea in 2014 to dismiss the defamation claim. He claimed in a recent counter-affidavit that the suit was brought to silence him. This was the reason for filing the petition at Madras HC, whereas no other defendants of the suit were from Tamil Nadu.
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