Indian cricket captain sues TV channels

An Indian court has restrained two television channels from broadcasting any news linking the country’s cricket captain M S Dhoni with the limited-overs Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, media reports say.

The Indian Express newspaper reported that the Madras High Court issued the order after Dhoni filed a defamation suit demanding one billion Indian rupees ($16.37m) in damages from the two channels for allegedly telecasting “malicious” news linking him to betting and spot-fixing of IPL matches.

Dhoni in his suit alleged that the two channels had been carrying “defamatory and scandalous” false news about him since February 2014. He claimed the TV channels were driven by the objective to destroy his reputation.

The cash-rich IPL had been mired in controversy over betting and spot-fixing in recent years.

Several cricketers including Indian team pacer S Sreesanth were arrested last year following allegations that they were involved in spot-fixing. 

The Madras High Court order restraining the two channels will be effective for two weeks.

“I am of the view that there is a prima facie case and the balance of convenience is also in favour of the plaintiff [Dhoni]. Hence interim injection granted for a period of two weeks,” the judge said in his order after perusing Dhoni’s affidavit.

Dhoni is currently the Indian captain in all forms of the game – including Tests and limited over games.