The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that it will hear a defamation suit filed against cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni on January 29. The defamation suit has been filed by MS Dhoni’s former business partner Mihir Diwakar.
Justice Prathiba M Singh ordered that intimation of filing of the suit be given to MS Dhoni as well as the law firm representing him. Reportedly, Diwakar and his wife have filed the suit to restrain MS Dhoni from publishing defamatory and malicious statements against them alleging that the duo illegally gained Rs.15 crores from the cricketer.The defamation suit has been lodged against Meta, X (formerly Twitter), Google, YouTube and 30 media houses and web portals.
Mihir Diwakar claimed that the allegations made against them by Dhoni are without any basis, wild, false, baseless, vindictive, malicious and unfounded. Furthermore, they are also aggrieved by a press conference held by Dhoni’s lawyer on January 06 where the said allegations were presented before the media. The defamation suit submits that the same was done with an intention to cause irreparable and grave injury to them.
Notably, a criminal complaint has also been filed by MS Dhoni against Mihir Diwakar which is pending in a court in Ranchi. During the hearing on Thursday, the counsel appearing for Diwakars submitted that an injunction order can be passed even in cases which are sub judice before court.
Meanwhile, Advocate Siddhant Kumar, ANI’s counsel, submitted that the suit is not maintainable as per the decision of a coordinate bench in Veer Arjun Newspaper Pvt. Ltd vs Bahoti Lal & Ors. The advocate also submitted that the media house is fully protected under the exception to Section 499 of Indian Penal Code, 1860, as the reporting merely covered the proceedings pending in the criminal case before Ranchi court.
Earlier in 2017, an Authorization letter was issued in favour of Diwakar’s company, Aarka Sports Management Authority Pvt Ltd, for MS Dhoni Cricket Academy in pursuance of a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a chain of cricket academies and sports complexes. Later in August 2021, the said letter was revoked vide an email by an unknown third party, as per the suit.
The defamation suit further mentioned that till date, no official letter of revocation has been received by Diwakar and thus, the email cannot be understood as a legal and valid revocation in law.