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IPS Officer Sampath Kumar was sentenced to 15-day imprisonment by the Madras High Court after former India cricketer MS Dhoni filed a contempt plea. The case relates to Zee Media along with Kumar, who made bold claims that Dhoni was involved in the betting and fixing during the 2013 saga in the Indian Premier League. On Friday, the bench of Justices SS Sundar and Sunder Mohan suspended the 30-day sentence to allow Kumar to file an appeal.
The former India captain filed a defamation case before the High Court against Zee Media, Kumar, and many others for naming him in the IPL 2013 scandal. Not only this, but the CSK captain also obtained a restraining order against the media houses and Kumar for making statements about him in the case.
After the statements, the 42-year-old lodged another complaint, which stated that Kumar made further defamatory statements, that resulted in contempt of court petition. Dhoni had urged the court to punish the IPS officer for his derogatory remarks against the judiciary in his written statement filed in response to the INR 100 crore defamation suit. Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram granted permission to the cricketer to move the criminal contempt of court petition.
In 2013, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals came under the spotlight in match-fixing. The former CSK principal owner Gurunath Meiyappan was accused of betting on IPL matches as well as sharing confidential information. On the other side, Rajasthan Royals’ Ankeet Chavan, Ajit Chandila, and Sreesanth received bans for their roles in match-fixing.
