Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been slapped with a
non-bailable warrant for appearing in a magazine cover advertisement posing as
a Hindu Diety holding a shoe in his hand.
The warrant pertains to a case filed by VHP leader Yerraguntla
Shyamsundar against Dhoni in a court in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh for allegedly
hurting religious sentiments posing as Lord Vishnu on the cover of Business
Today magazine.
The cover on the business journal depicted Dhoni as Lord
Vishnu holding various products he endorses like chips, a soft drink, energy drink
and also a shoe. The magazine’s report titled ‘God of Big Deals’ was on the
brand value of the former Test captain.
Dhoni has been summoned to appear before the court on
February 25. Advocate Gopal Rao, who represented the petitioner in the case, said
the court had earlier also issued summons to both Dhoni and the magazine editor
Chaitanya Kalbag.
The cricketer, who is in Australia for a limited over
series, was not available for comments. However, Dhoni’s manager Arun Pandey
said that the cricketer was never served any summons in the case. His lawyer
also termed the warrant “erroneous”.
“Mahendra Singh Dhoni
has utmost respect for the judiciary but the fact of the matter is that he has
personally never received any summons with respect to the present case;
therefore, the order appears to be erroneous,” the lawyer said in a statement
issued by Rhiti Sports, the company managing Dhoni.
Advocate Chopra added that the Supreme Court had stayed
criminal proceedings against the cricketer in another case related to the same
image last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment