The Madras High Court has on Thursday denied dismissing the 100-crore defamation lawsuit filed by India's former cricket captain, MS Dhoni against an IPS officer, who accused the former of involving in a scam. The petition was filed by Dhoni seven years ago while the police officer had filed a counter-petition against Dhoni's plea. 

According to reports, MS Dhoni, who is heading the Chennai Super Kings team in the IPL, had in 2014 filed a Rs 100-crore defamation suit on an IPS officer, G Sampath Kumar, for making match-fixing allegations against him. Dhoni had also included Zee Media Corporation in his suit for accusing him of involving in the scam of spot-fixing and betting in IPL matches without any basis. 

In his affidavit, the former Indian captain said that the IPS Officer, the private channel, and its editors had carried highly defamatory, malicious, scandalous, and libellous false reports against him. He demanded the officer and the channel to pay Rs 100 crore for defaming him. Countering his allegations, Sampath Kumar also had filed a petition before the court in which he sought the dismissal of Dhoni's defamation lawsuit. 

The IPS officer had claimed that he had no role in the case and was wilfully dragged into it. His petition had come to hearing on Thursday before the High Court bench headed by Justice N Seshasayee. After the hearing, the bench had rejected Sampath Kumar's plea and denied to dismiss Dhoni's lawsuit. The court noted that such relief could not be granted at this point when the trial is about to commence. 

However, the court had granted liberty to the IPS officer to move an application for filing an additional written statement and adjourned the hearing to December 15. The judge had added that the case could drag for many years as the process of enquiring the witnesses has just begun. On Thursday, Sampath Kumar had argued that he could not be made to face the defamation for deposition made in his official capacity before the committee appointed to probe the scam as the investigating officer of the scam while he was a superintendent of police. 

However, the court had refused to accept his contention. Responding to the defamation suit, Zee Media Corporation has in 2014 said that it only had reported the deposition of Sampath Kumar made to the Mudgal Committee appointed to probe the scam and it has added that Dhoni was attempting to choke the media from discussing an issue of national and public importance.