Court adjourns Dhoni’s contempt plea

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court adjourned the contempt of court petition filed by star cricketer and former Indian team captain MS Dhoni against retired IPS officer G Sampath Kumar, to August 31.

A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice M Sundar and Justice R Sakthivel observed that as the petitioner’s civil suit against the former officer was still pending in the court, it was necessary to peruse the fair order given in that suit. After the petitioner, represented by senior counsel PS Raman, sought time to file the fair order, the matter was posted on August 31.

Meanwhile, senior counsel Perumbulavil Radhakrishnan who appeared for Sampath Kumar contended that he did not make any scandalous comment as alleged by Dhoni.

In his petition, Dhoni sought the court to take action against Sampath Kumar for his allegedly contumacious remarks against the Supreme Court and High Court, and also filed a defamation suit demanding Rs 100 crore from the officer for allegedly dragging his name while investigating the infamous IPL betting scam case in the year 2014.

Dhoni claimed that the written statement given by the officer was found to contain the contumacious remarks, and hence he sought the court to take action against him for criminal contempt.