A suit for defamation has been filed against cricketer and former Indian men’s cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni before Delhi High Court by Dhoni's former business partner Mihir Diwakar and Diwakar’s wife Soumya Das [Mihir Diwakar & Anr v Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Ors].
Diwakar and Das have sought directions to restrain Dhoni and people acting on his behalf from making defamatory allegations against them in relation to alleged breach of a 2017 contract.
The contract was entered into between Dhoni and Aarka Sports Management, a company owned by Diwakar and Das. The contract was for establishing cricket academies in India and globally.
The case is listed for hearing before Justice Prathiba M Singh on January 18.
The suit alleges that Dhoni and people acting on his behalf made defamatory allegations against Diwakar and Das that they had duped Dhoni of nearly ₹15 crore by not honouring a contract to establish cricket academies.
Diwakar, a former cricketer himself who represented India at the Under-19 World Cup in 2000, has said that even before a court could give any substantive finding on the issue, Dhoni's lawyer Dayanand Sharma conducted a press conference on January 6, 2024 making allegations against Diwakar and Das.
Diwakar and Das has argued that these allegations were widely reported in the media which tarnished his image.
Therefore, they have sought a direction to restrain Dhoni and people acting on his behalf from making any defamatory allegation against him.
The suit has also sought directions to X (formerly Twitter) as well Google, YouTube, Meta (Facebook) and a host of news platforms to take down the allegedly defamatory articles/posts against Diwakar and Das.
The suit has been filed through advocates Rishi Awasthi and Smarhar Singh.
Dhoni had earlier filed a criminal case in Ranchi against Diwakar and Das for alleged violation of the contract signed in 2017 for running cricket academies and sports complexes globally under the names ‘MS Dhoni Cricket Academy’, ‘MS Dhoni Sports Academy’ or ‘MS Dhoni Sports Complex’
The criminal complaint was filed for offences under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at District Court Ranchi.
Dhoni alleged that even after he revoked his letter of authorisation, Diwakar and Das opened many cricket academies under the names mentioned in the contract.
