The Madras High Court has directed its Registry to number three applications filed by retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer G. Sampath Kumar concerning the deposition of former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The applications pertain to a ₹100-crore civil defamation suit filed by Dhoni in 2014, accusing Kumar and several media entities of linking his name to the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) betting controversy.
Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi issued the order after examining the maintainability of the applications. The applicant’s counsel cited a Supreme Court precedent in a similar matter to demonstrate that the prayers sought were legally maintainable. Convinced by the argument, the judge accepted the maintainability of the applications and clarified that Dhoni would be given an opportunity to submit a counter-affidavit once the petitions are formally numbered and listed.
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The three applications push for specific conditions regarding how the cricketer’s evidence is collected:
- Judicial Monitoring: The first application requests the appointment of a judicial officer to oversee the recording of Dhoni’s evidence by the court-appointed advocate commissioner.
- Video Recording: The second application insists on complete video recording of the deposition, demanding that certified, unedited copies of the footage be issued to both the applicant and the supervising judicial officer.
- Government Venue: The third application urges the court to hold the recording of evidence inside court premises or a government building. The applicant’s counsel argued that despite Dhoni’s celebrity status, the deposition should not take place in private venues such as five-star hotels or bungalows.
The current proceedings follow an order issued in August 2025 by Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, who appointed advocate G. Jayasri as a court commissioner to record Dhoni’s evidence and commence the trial. Kumar previously appealed that order, but a Division Bench dismissed his appeal in November 2025. At the time, the Division Bench noted that compelling Dhoni to appear physically at the Master’s Court inside the High Court complex would require extensive security arrangements, validating the decision to appoint an advocate commissioner to record his testimony elsewhere.
Along with the retired IPS officer, Dhoni’s 2014 defamation suit names Zee Media Corporation, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, and News Nation Network Private Limited as co-defendants.
