Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer G. Sampath Kumar has filed another appeal with the Madras High Court. He is challenging a single judge’s order from August 11, 2025, which appointed an advocate commissioner to record the evidence of cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni. This development is part of a significant ₹100 crore defamation lawsuit filed by Dhoni against Sampath Kumar and others, accusing them of implicating his name in the 2013 IPL betting scandal.
On Friday, October 31, 2025, a Division Bench comprising Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman had already dismissed Sampath Kumar’s earlier appeal. That previous appeal sought to reject the defamation suit itself, a request a single judge had denied in 2021. The Bench found no merit in Sampath Kumar’s arguments, siding with senior counsel P.R. Raman, who represented Mr. Dhoni.
During the recent listing of Sampath Kumar’s latest appeal (concerning the advocate commissioner appointment) before a different Division Bench of Justices Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq, serious objections were raised. Mr. Raman highlighted what he described as “highly offensive” remarks made by the former IPS officer against the judiciary. Consequently, the judges instructed Sampath Kumar’s counsel to submit an affidavit withdrawing these controversial remarks and adjourned the hearing to November 4, 2025.
Sampath Kumar informed the court that in 2013, while serving as Superintendent of Police for the ‘Q’ Branch CID (Internal Security), he uncovered a cricket betting syndicate. His investigation, initially focused on a fake passport scam, led to a network of bookies and a Chennai-based kingpin who allegedly revealed details of match-fixing.
The retired IPS officer stated that he had also testified before the Justice Mudgal Committee, which was established by the Supreme Court to investigate the betting issue. However, he claimed that a television journalist later conducted a sting operation on him, recording their conversation about cricket betting and broadcasting the footage on February 23, 2014.
Following this incident, Sampath Kumar was immediately suspended for interacting with the media. He detailed various subsequent legal proceedings, emphasizing that Mr. Dhoni initiated the defamation suit in 2014, seeking a substantial ₹100 crore in damages, even though a broader case concerning the cricket betting scandal was still ongoing at the Supreme Court.
Sampath Kumar further objected to the single judge’s order that allowed an advocate commissioner to record Mr. Dhoni’s evidence at a convenient location, thereby exempting the cricketer from appearing in the Master’s court within the High Court buildings. The former IPS officer argued that all litigants should be treated equally, and no special privilege or priority should be extended to celebrities.