The Delhi High Court in the case Mihir Diwakar & Anr. v. Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Ors observed and has informed that the defamation suit filed against him by his former business partner Mihir Diwakar is not maintainable.
In the present case, the suit has been filed by the Diwakar and his wife to restrain Dhoni from publishing defamatory and malicious statements against them alleging that the duo illegally gained Rs.15 crores from the cricketer.
In the present case, the suit has been filed against Meta, X (formerly Twitter), Google, YouTube and 30 media houses and web portals.
The bench headed by Justice Prathiba M Singh was hearing the present case.
The counsel appearing for Dhoni’s submitted before the court that the suit was not maintainable against his client and that the cricketer had merely filed a case against Diwakar in Ranchi.
Further, the counsel submitted that the said petition is not maintainable against me and I have just filed a case in Ranchi.
On the other hand, the counsel appearing for the Diwakar submitted before the court that the media reports were not fair as his client has already been labelled as a thug and thief.
The counsel, Advocate Siddhant Kumar, ANI’s also relied upon a judgment to argue that unless specific allegations against each of the defendants is not set out in the plaint, the same would not be maintainable.
It has also been stated by him that the territorial jurisdiction is also under challenge in the matter.
The said court then asked Diwakar’s counsel to take steps to set out allegations against the defendants.
Therefore, it has been claimed by Diwakars that the allegations made against them by Dhoni are without any basis, “wild, false, baseless, vindictive, malicious, and unfounded. Thus, 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.
It has been submitted in the suit filed that the same was done with an intention to cause irreparable and grave injury to them.
The criminal complaint has been filed by Dhoni against Diwakar which is pending in a court in Ranchi.
Further, the court issued an Authorization letter in favour of the 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.
The said letter was revoked vide an email by an unknown third party, as per the suit in August 2021.
The suit filed stated that till date, no official letter of revocation of has been received by Diwakar and thus, the email cannot be understood a legal and valid revocation in law.
Accordingly, the court listed the matter for further consideration on April 03, 2024.