Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the former and indubitably the most successful captain of the Indian men’s cricket team, has filed a ‘criminal’ case against two of his former business associates under the charges of an ‘alleged’ fraud.
Captain Cool and his associates claim he got duped of Rs. 16 crores by a sports management company named ‘Araka Sports’ after its directors, Mihir Diwakar and Soumya Biswas, did not honour the contractual terms signed between them and the cricket legend in 2017.
Dhoni’s allegation:
As iterated by Dhoni’s lawyer, Advocate Dayanand Singh (operating for Patna-based ‘Vidhi Associates’ Law firm) filed the criminal case against the two directors in Patna’s lower court. The lawyer mentioned how Diwakar and Biswas approached Dhoni in 2017 with a business proposal of establishing several well-equipped cricket academies in India and abroad. The company confided with Dhoni, believing the latter’s heroic legacy would fetch them immense publicity.
The agreement between Araka Sports and MS Dhoni read:
- Dhoni was to receive the entire franchise fee of the established academies.
- The profit earned by the academies was to be divided between Dhoni and the Company on a 70:30 basis.
On May 7th, 2017, Dhoni issued a ‘letter of authorisation’ (LoA) to Araka Sports — enabling them to open new cricket academies (using his ‘name’) under the above norms signed between the two parties.
Things went according to plan for a few months until Dhoni learnt that Araka Sports had opened several cricket academies without his cognisance. The company had reportedly established as many as ten academies using Dhoni’s brand name but hadn’t paid him a single penny to honour their contract.
Upon hearing about the alleged violation of their contract, Dhoni’s team sent two legal notices to Araka Sports highlighting the breach of the agreement. However, the company ignored the notices and continued inaugurating new academies using Dhoni’s name.
Finally, on August 15th, 2021, Dhoni revoked the above-mentioned ‘letter of authorisation’ via an email to Araka Sports. Today, Dhoni and his associates claim that Araka Sport’s unprofessional and fraudulent conduct has incurred him a loss of at least Rs. 16 crore!
There is also a separate allegation by a trust against Mihir Diwakar, claiming he had entered into an agreement with the trust on behalf of MS Dhoni and extracted a sum of Rs. 35 lakhs for a new school venture with logos and endorsements belonging to the star cricketer.
Araka Sport’s response:
On March 2nd, 2023, the company denied the allegations of misuse of ‘the letter of authorisation’ issued by Dhoni. The company assured it hadn’t negotiated with any ‘3rd party’ after he (Dhoni) revoked the LoA. The company has stated that it made no profit, only losses, since setting up the cricket academies. Hence, there hadn’t been any profit to begin with that they could later share with the former skipper.
Where does the case stand now?
Dayanand Singh (Dhoni’s attorney) has filed the case in Patna’s lower court against:
- Aarka Sports Management Pvt Ltd;
- Mihir Diwakar (Director);
- and Soumya Biswas (Director).
They have been charged with ‘fraudulent’ offences under Sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the competent court at District Court Ranchi.
Section 406 of the IPC reads, “Whoever commits criminal breach of trust shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.“
Section 420 of the IPC reads, “Whoever cheats and deceives another person to give property or alter valuable documents can be punished with imprisonment up to seven years and fined.“
On top of all these, Dhoni’s close friend and associate Simant Lohani (aka ‘Chittu’) has complained against Diwakar, alleging that he (Diwakar) had abused him after Dhoni’s team took legal action against Araka Sports.
Thus, unless Araka Sports comes up with substantial proof to evade the accusations rendered by MSD — the two of its directors might get penalised with imprisonment up to 10 years and a hefty fine (or both), notwithstanding the pressure of commiserating Dhoni with Rs. 16 crores!
As of now, Dhoni’s friend Simant Lohani ‘Chittu’ has recorded his official statement with the judicial magistrate in the Ranchi court. Hence, this case still has a long way to go.