Former IPS officer appeals against appointment of advocate commissioner to record Dhoni’s evidence

Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer G. Sampath Kumar has filed yet another appeal before the Madras High Court challenging a single judge’s August 11, 2025, order appointing an advocate commissioner to record the evidence of cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a ₹100 crore defamation suit filed by the latter against him and a few others for dragging his name in the 2013 IPL betting scam.

A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman had on Friday (October 31, 2025) dismissed his previous appeal against the 2021 refusal of a single judge to reject the defamation suit. The Bench refused to entertain that appeal after being convinced with the submissions of senior counsel P.R. Raman, representing Mr. Dhoni, that there was no substance in the appellant’s plea to reject the suit.

When his latest appeal, against appointment of advocate commissioner, was listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq, Mr. Raman raised objection to certain “highly offensive” remarks made by him against the judiciary. Hence, the judges asked the appellant’s counsel to file an affidavit withdrawing those remarks and decided to hear the case next on November 4, 2025.

The appellant had told the court that he was serving as Superintendent of Police, ‘Q’ Branch CID (Internal Security) in 2013 when he stumbled into a cricket betting syndicate and unearthed a network of bookies while investigating a fake passport scam. He claimed his investigating team had interrogated a Chennai-based kingpin who exposed the entire process of match fixing.

The retired IPS officer told the Division Bench he had also deposed before the Justice Mudgal Committee constituted by the Supreme Court regarding the issue. However, he claimed a television journalist subsequently conducted a sting operation on him and recorded the conversation that they both had regarding the cricket betting and telecasted the visuals on February 23, 2014.

Also read: Dhoni’s contempt plea | Madras High Court sentences IPS officer to 15 days imprisonment

Immediately, the appellant was placed under suspension for interacting with the media. Further, listing out various proceedings that followed after the incident, he said, Mr. Dhoni had filed the defamation suit in 2014 seeking a whopping amount of ₹100 crore in damages though a case related to the larger issue of cricket betting was still pending before the Supreme Court.

Further, objecting to the single judge’s order appointing an advocate commissioner to record the evidence of Mr. Dhoni at any mutually convenient place so that the cricketer need not have to appear before the Master’s court located inside the High Court buildings, the appellant said, all litigants must be treated equally and no privilege or priority must be given to the celebrities.