Dhoni’s contempt plea | Madras High Court suspends sentence imposed on retired IPS officer for 60 days instead of 30

Retired IPS officer sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment for contempt of court, suspended for 60 days to appeal to Supreme Court.

The Madras High Court on Friday suspended the punishment of 15 days’ simple imprisonment imposed on retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer G. Sampath Kumar, after finding him guilty in a contempt plea moved by ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for 60 days instead of 30.

Justices S.S. Sundar and Sunder Mohan made the modification to their previous order passed on December 15 and said he should surrender before the Registrar General of the High Court if he could not approach the Supreme Court within 60 days and get the High Court order stayed.

Mr. Dhoni had filed the contempt petition against the retired IPS officer in 2022 accusing him of having made contumacious remarks against the Supreme Court as well as the High Court in a written statement filed in response to the cricketer’s ₹100-crore defamation suit for having dragged his name in to the Indian Premier League betting scam.

The Division Bench found the retired police officer guilty of contempt and sentenced him to 15 days of simple imprisonment. Then, the bench had suspended the sentence for a period of 30 days in order to enable him to go on appeal to the Supreme Court.