Former Indian national team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has filed a criminal case against his two former business partners for fraud ₹15 crore. According to reports, the case was filed in a lower court in Ranchi against Mihir Diwakar and Soumya Vishwas, who are directors of sports management company 'Aarka Sports'.
In 2017, the two accused approached Dhoni to set up cricket academies in India and abroad in the cricketer's name, Dhoni's lawyer Dayanand Singh said. As per the agreement, Dhoni was to get the full franchise fee and the profits were to be shared in the ratio of 70:30 between the cricketer and the partners. However, later the accused started setting up academies without informing Dhoni and did not make payments to him, Singh said.
The cricketer also sent legal notices to the accused but to no avail.
“Ms Dhoni revoked his authority on August 15, 2021. Despite this, they continued to set up academies in about eight to ten locations… We served them with legal notices twice for violating the agreement norms. They more than fooled MS Dhoni ₹15 crore,” the lawyer told authorities.
Notably, the accused were friends with Dhoni and had even played the Ranji Trophy together.
The criminal case was filed on October 27 last year under Sections 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On Friday, Simant Lohani, authorized by Dhoni, recorded his statement in the first class magistrate court, PTI reported.
(With contributions from agencies)
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