IPS officer gets 15 days jai in contempt plea filed by Dhoni

The Madras High Court on Friday sentenced IPS officer G Sampath Kumar to 15 days imprisonment in the contempt plea filed by former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni in connection with the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal.Kumar, who was then the Superintendent of Police, Q Branch of Tamil Nadu Police, had unearthed the IPL betting scandal.Dhoni filed the against the officer, who recently retired as Inspector General (IG) of Police, for his 'scandalous' and 'contumacious' remarks against the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court in connection with the betting scandal.According to the complaint, Kumar had claimed that Dhoni was involved in betting and match-fixing during IPL and that the SC had deviated from its focus on the rule of law and shelved the deposition kept in a sealed cover.
Dhoni had initially sued Kumar and Zee Media for defamation and had sought Rs. 100 crore in damages from the accused.The cricketer later filed a contempt petition against the officer - he turned 60 this May and retired - and cited disparaging remarks made by the IPS officer against the Supreme Court and the Madras high court.On Friday, A division bench of the Madras HC comprising Justices S S Sundar and Sunder Mohan sentenced Kumar to 15 days in jail but suspended the operation of the sentence for 30 days for him to file an appeal.
Sampath Kumar had carried out the initial probe in the 2013 IPL betting case. He was later taken off the case and suspended following allegations that he took bribes from some bookies to let them off the hook. The police officer, who was cleared of the accusation by a trial court in 2019 citing inadequate evidence, has maintained that he was framed to stop him from unearthing the scam in its entirety.