The Madras High Court has asked cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni to deposit ₹10 lakh for transcribing and translating the contents of compact discs presented in the court in a ₹100-crore defamation suit filed by him in 2014 against a retired a retired IPS officer, a few journalists and television channels for dragging his name in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scam.
Justice R.N. Manjula said, only the plaintiff would have to bear the costs of transcription and translation of the materials especially when the Interpreter of the High Court had reported it was a humongous task which would take about three to four months even if one interpreter and a typist were deployed for the work exclusively. The interpreter section also assessed the cost to be ₹10 lakh.
Dhoni’s presence in Madras High Court will require elaborate security arrangements, say judges
Hence, the judge directed the cricketer to deposit ₹10 lakh with the Chief Justice’s Relief Fund on or before March 12, 2026 so that the 12-year-old defamation suit, which had got delayed due to multiple interim litigations, could be proceeded further. The suit had been filed against Zee Media Corporation, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, retired IPS officer G. Sampath Kumar and News Nation Network.
