MS Dhoni’s ₹100 crore defamation suit: Madras High Court orders registry to number retired IPS officer’s suit

Cricketer MS Dhoni | Photo credit: R. Ragu

The Madras High Court on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) ordered its registry on number three of an application filed by retired Indian Police (IPS) officer G. Sampath Kumar to videotape evidence of cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a ₹100 million defamation suit he filed in 2014 against his former police officer and 13 PL betting fraud.

Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi issued the direction after the three applications were listed before her to decide on their maintainability. The applicant’s counsel argued that the three prayers sought by his client were sustainable in view of the Supreme Court’s order in a similar case. After reviewing the order, the judge was satisfied that such applications could be made.

She made it clear that Mr. Dhoni would get an opportunity to file his counter-affidavit after the applications were numbered. In the first application, Mr Kumar urged the court to appoint a judicial officer to monitor the recording of the cricketer’s evidence by a court-appointed bar commissioner. In the second lawsuit, he insisted on making a video recording of the entire meeting.

The applicant insisted that he be given unedited and certified copies of the video footage, as well as a judicial officer to be appointed by the court. Thirdly, he wanted the recording of evidence to take place in the court premises or in any government building.’ Just because he is a cricketer, the evidence should not be recorded in a five-star hotel or some private bungalow,” the complainant’s counsel said.

On 11 August 2025, Justice CV Karthikeyan ordered the commencement of the trial in the 2014 civil case by appointing advocate G. Jayasri as the court-appointed commissioner to record Mr. Dhoni’s evidence. Although Mr. Kumar challenged the order, a bench of SM Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq dismissed the appeal on November 4, 2025.

Thereafter, the Division Bench observed that insisting on the cricketer’s presence before the Master’s Court, located in the High Court campus, for the purpose of recording his evidence would require elaborate security arrangements and, therefore, there was nothing wrong on the part of the Single Judge in appointing a Bar Commissioner to record his evidence elsewhere.

Apart from the IPS officer, Mr Dhoni filed a case against Zee Media Corporation, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and News Nation Network Private Limited.

Published – 01 Sep 2026 13:24 IST