Indian limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday (February 11) sent a legal notice to Sun Star, a Hindi daily, for accusing him of match fixing during India’s Tour to England in the summer of 2014.
This comes just days after a sting operation by the newspaper, which caught Sunil Dev, India’s team manager at that time, accusing Dhoni, India’s then Test captain, of fixing the fourth and final match of the test series against England in Manchester, the 34 year old’s lawyers, Delhi based C&C Associates, has served the publication with a nine-page notice, threatening to file a defamation suit worth Rs 100 crore, unless an apology is issued over the alleged match fixing reports.
Dhoni’s legal team at C&C Associates have termed Sunil Dev’s allegations as “false propoganda” and an “attempt to defame Dhoni”. The notice has given the newspaper a 48-hour deadline to issue an apology statement.
“Our client (MS Dhoni) reserves the right to institute proceedings for the recovery of damages up to Rs 100 crores from you on account of the defamation, mental agony and trauma caused to him due to this by causing loss of his reputation,” reads the legal notice, as quoted by a Deccan Chronicle report.
Meanwhile, in an U-turn of sorts, Sunil Dev has come out in strong criticism of the story, calling it rubbish. The sting operation had quoted Dev claiming that Dhoni’s decision to bat first under cloudy conditions at Old Trafford was in contrast to what was discussed in the team meeting prior to the toss. Dev claimed that he was a “100 percent” sure the former Indian test skipper had fixed the Manchester test which was done and dusted in 3 days as India suffered an innings defeat.
“Given the conditions of the pitch, (which) was wet due to (a) long spell of rain, we had decided to bowl first in a team meeting. But Dhoni surprised everyone by opting to bat first,” Dev had said in the sting video.
The legal notice, however, does highlight that Dev has since denied the match fixing allegations. “The report is all rubbish. I am planning to sue this Hindi daily and will seek legal action against anyone else who makes such malicious claims,” Dev said.
India lost the test at Old Trafford by an innings and 54 runs, with Dhoni standing out with 71 and 27 runs in the first and second innings respectively.