On Monday the former India World Cup-winning captain submitted before the Delhi High Court that the defamation plea filed by his ex-business partners against him was not maintainable.
The HC had refused to pass any interim order against Dhoni and several media outlets and social media platforms stopped them from posting or publishing any defamatory content which is allegedly false against the plaintiffs which could ruin their goodwill and reputation.
Mihir Diwakar and his wide Soumya Das who are the plaintiffs of the case sought out a permanent injunction and compensation for damages from Dhoni and many media outlets and social media, which would then restrict them from creating and publishing defamatory, ex facie false and malicious statements against them.
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Dhoni’s legal council had appeared before the court and submitted that the objection against the former skipper was not maintainable and he also filed a case against the couple in the Ranchi court as well. The case has been filed in a lower court in Ranchi against two directors of Aarka Sports, a sports management company. Dhoni’s representatives had said they have filed a criminal case on behalf of the cricketer in a competent court in Ranchi against Aarka Sports directors Mihir Diwakar and Soumya Das under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code
His counsel added that he had not received a copy of the plaint and related documents and was only informed by the high court registry about the filing of the case. The court however asked the counsel to provide the complete documents within three days.
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The lawyer appearing for the plaintiffs submitted that he only wanted fair reporting by the media and claimed the media reporting against his clients was not fair as they have already been labelled as thugs and thieves.
Advocate Siddhant Kumar, representing one of the media houses, also argued that the plea was not maintainable and placed an earlier judgment to contend that unless and until specific allegations are set out against each of the defendants, including media houses, no case will be made out.
An issue that was also raised is the lack of jurisdiction of the court to deal with this issue. and the plaintiff’s counsel were asked to take the steps to set out the allegations and listed the matter for further hearing as well which takes place on April 3.
The high court had earlier asked its registry to inform Dhoni about the filing of the defamation plea against him by his two former business partners. The plaintiffs have sought that the defendants be restrained from damaging the reputation of the plaintiffs concerning the false allegations allegedly made by Dhoni relating to purported illegal profits of Rs 15 crore from him and breach of a contract from 2017.
The plaintiffs’ counsel had earlier said a press conference was held on behalf of the cricketer levelling allegations against the plaintiffs. According to his lawyer, Dhoni recently filed a criminal case against Diwakar and Das, claiming they have allegedly duped him of around Rs 16 crore by not honouring a contract to establish cricket academies.
(with PTI Inputs)
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