ANANTAPUR: The additional judicial first class magistrate’s court at Anantapur on Friday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is currently on a cricket tour of Australia. The cricketer had posed as Lord Vishnu on the cover of the Business Today magazine in April, 2013, holding a shoe in his hands and Anantapur VHP leader Y. Shyamsundar had filed a case against Dhoni for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. The judicial first class magistrate’s court directed the police to produce Dhoni by February 25.
Never got summons: Dhoni’s lawyer
Advocate Gopal Rao, who represented Mr Shyamsundar, recalled the court had earlier issued summons to both Dhoni and the magazine editor on November 7. The magazine editor had refused the summons while Dhoni had not attended court. Following this, magistrate Geethavani issued a NBW for Dhoni. The magazine’s report, titled ‘God of Big Deals’, was on Dhoni’s brand value. “Since he did not appear before the court even after being summoned, the court took a serious view and issued a non-bailable arrest warrant,” said Mr Gopal Rao. He added that neither Dhoni nor his counsel were present.
It may be noted Mr Shyamsundar had urged the court to punish the accused and though the petition had been admitted by the court then, it was later dismissed due to absence of the complainant. Subsequently, the petitioner filed a revision seeking restoration of the petition, which the court accepted. The same was contested by Dhoni’s counsel and the summons were recalled in May 2014, post which the court directed the petitioner to get prior sanction of the district collector or the appropriate state or government officials for being able to start criminal proceedings under Section 295 A.
Meanwhile, Dhoni’s lawyer Rajneesh Chopra said the cricketer had never received the summons. He said the NBW issued was “erroneous”. “Dhoni has utmost respect for the judiciary but he has personally never received any summons with respect to the present case; therefore the order appears to be erroneous,” Mr Chopra said “Even as such, proceedings in a similar matter pending before the Hon’ble District Court of Bengaluru has already been stayed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. In this matter, accordingly we will approach the courts and seek appropriate directions thereto,” he added.
