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 an August 11, 2025 order appointing an advocate commissioner to record the evidence of cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed by Dhoni 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 challenging the 2021 refusal of a single judge to reject the defamation suit. The bench refused to entertain that appeal after being convinced by senior counsel P.R. Raman, representing Dhoni, that there was no substance in the appellant’s plea to reject the suit. When Sampath Kumar's latest appeal, against the appointment of an advocate commissioner, was listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq, 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 retired officer 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 appellant also said he deposed before the Justice Mudgal Committee constituted by the Supreme Court regarding the issue.

He added that a television journalist later conducted a sting operation on him and recorded the conversation, which was telecast on February 23, 2014. Dhoni filed the defamation suit alleging the former officer and others dragged his name into the 2013 IPL betting scandal. The latest move centers on the court's appointment of an advocate commissioner to record Dhoni's evidence, a step Sampath Kumar is challenging as part of an ongoing fight over the suit’s viability.