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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked its registry to inform former Team India cricket captain MS Dhoni about the filing of a defamation suit against him by his two former business partners.

Plaintiffs and former business partners Mihir Diwakar and his wife Soumya Das have approached the high court seeking a permanent injunction and damages against Dhoni, several social media platforms, and media houses, thereby restraining them from making, publishing, and circulating per se defamatory, ex facie false, and malicious statements against them.

The bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh, before whom the plaint came up for hearing, was informed that Dhoni has not been served with the plea by the plaintiffs.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for ANI, a multimedia news agency argued that the plaint is not maintainable. 

"It is deemed appropriate to direct intimation to defendant no. 1 (Dhoni) of filing of the present suit. Let the registry issue an email to defendant no. 1 at the email address. The intimation be also given at the law firm representing him," the court ordered.

The matter has been scheduled for further hearing on January 29.

The contract, involving Dhoni and Aarka Sports Management (owned by Diwakar and Das), aimed to establish cricket academies in India and globally.

The plaintiffs have claimed that Dhoni and his representatives made defamatory allegations, accusing Diwakar and Das of duping Dhoni of nearly Rs. 15 crore by not honoring the contract.

Alleging that Dhoni's lawyer, Dayanand Sharma, conducted a press conference on January 6, 2024, making these allegations before a court ruling, Diwakar contends that these statements tarnished his image, impacting his reputation.

The plaintiffs seek a court order restraining Dhoni and his representatives from making further defamatory remarks. Additionally, they have sought directions to platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Google, YouTube, Meta (Facebook), and various news platforms to remove allegedly defamatory articles and posts against them.

The plaintiffs filed the suit after Dhoni filed a criminal case in Ranchi against Diwakar and Das, accusing them of violating the 2017 contract for running cricket academies and sports complexes globally under names such as ‘MS Dhoni Cricket Academy,’ ‘MS Dhoni Sports Academy,’ or ‘MS Dhoni Sports Complex.’

The criminal complaint includes charges under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at District Court Ranchi.

Dhoni claims that, despite revoking his letter of authorization, Diwakar and Das continued to open cricket academies under the specified names.

Case Title: Mihir Diwakar & Anr v. Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Ors.