In response to a contempt petition filed by former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Madras High Court on Friday sentenced retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer G Sampath Kumar to 15 days in prison. However, the sentence was postponed for 30 days so that the officer could file an appeal. Cricketer MS Dhoni has been making headlines for his plea.
In addition to sentencing the officer, a bench of justices Sunder Mohan and SS Sundar postponed the jail term for 30 days so that Sampath Kumar could file an appeal of the decision.
Cricketer MS Dhoni plea:
In 2014, after being accused of match-fixing in an Indian Premier League betting case, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahesh Dhoni filed a ₹100 crore defamation suit against Sampath Kumar, who worked for the CID department of the Tamil Nadu Police, and a television channel.
After turning 60 in May and retiring, the cricket player filed a contempt petition against the IPS officer, citing insulting comments the officer had made about the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court.
In the 2013 IPL betting case, Sampath Kumar had, in fact, done the preliminary investigation. Subsequent to accusations that he accepted bribes from certain bookies to clear their names, he was removed from the case and placed under suspension. The policeman, who was exonerated of the charge in 2019 due to insufficient evidence, has insisted that he was set up to prevent him from discovering the full scope of the scam.
However, Justices SS Sundar and Sunder Mohan postponed the sentence for 30 days so that the defendant could file an appeal with the Supreme Court. The Hindu said that although the contemnor had not asked for the suspension, it was started by the court on its own initiative.
The cricketer filed a petition seeking punishment for Kumar through his senior counsel PR Raman because of his disparaging remarks about the judiciary in his written response.
This had to do with the Rs 100 crore defamation suit the cricket player had brought against the IPS officer in 2014, alleging that the officer had linked him to the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scandal.
The cricket player was allowed to file the criminal contempt of court petition as required by the Contempt of Courts Act by General Advocate R Shunmugasundaram. This decision was made after it was concluded that the IPS officer’s remarks in the written statement amounted to scandalizing legal proceedings.
MS Dhoni player profile:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a Jharkhand native, rose to prominence in international cricket via a combination of exceptional talent, tenacity, defiance, and, above all, belief. Following his arbitrary selection as a wicketkeeper by his school’s physical education teacher, Dhoni raised eyebrows in Ranchi’s cricket community as a teenage kid with no discernible upper-body strength hitting boundaries against some of the region’s top fast bowlers.
But the system let him down because he struggled to win against candidates from the wealthier A-tier states. In an attempt to make ends meet, he made the desperate decision to enlist in the Railways Ranji team and begin working as a ticket collector at the Kharagpur railway station.
With a style that countered pace, seam, swing, and spin, Dhoni proved to be a dependable batsman in Test matches as well, as teams from all over the world attempted to figure out how to stop his fireworks. He demonstrated his versatility as a batsman when, in his fifth Test, he unintentionally scored another 148 against Pakistan in an unusually stoic attempt to salvage the match.
Dhoni had finally established himself as a mainstay in the side, having been tried out as a wicketkeeper-batsman before. He was a potent pinch-hitter towards the end of the innings who could do more than just cameos, and he was also a more-than-dependable wicketkeeper.
IPL journey of MS Dhoni:
The story of MS Dhoni and the Chennai Super Kings is truly inspiring. Ever since the concept of an Indian Premier League gained traction among cricket enthusiasts, there has been much speculation about which team would be led by the Indian captain of the time. The Super Kings made a big opening by acquiring Dhoni for a whooping 6 Crore, the highest bid at the time.
The Super Kings, run by an organization that understood the nuances of running sports, knew they wanted a strong leader to lay a strong base. On April 18, 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL) was born. On June 1, Dhoni was there to lead CSK in the championship match, even though it ended in a loss in a final-ball finish.
Even though the outcome didn’t go his way, he left his mark as the team’s second-highest run scorer and as captain. In 2009, CSK was stopped just short of the championship match. However, a year later, in the final match against Mumbai Indians, Dhoni made an eccentric move by placing a straightish mid-off despite having a long-off to win the trophy after two previous attempts had failed.
Dhoni made sure the team left a lasting impression and earned the title of IPL invincibles with three years of consistency. By taking first place in 2011 and finishing second in the next two editions, CSK proved they were deserving of the moniker.
Dhoni guided CSK to their fourth IPL championship in 2021 following a heartbreaking 1-run loss to Mumbai in the 2019 IPL final. After a terrible 2022 season in which they missed the playoffs, Dhoni resigned as captain of CSK, but he was later given it back by Ravindra Jadeja. For the 2023 campaign, Dhoni will return and lead the team.
So, this was all about the Indian Cricketer MS Dhoni. Also read, Rohit Sharma’s wife Rikita Sajdeh’s comment on CSK Insta post
