NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has posted, for January 18, a defamation plea by two ex-business partners of former Team India cricket captain M.S. Dhoni, Mihir Diwakar and his wife Soumya Das against the cricketer.

The duo seek a permanent injunction and damages against Dhoni aiming to prevent the dissemination of alleged defamatory statements regarding purported illegal gains of Rs 15 crores and a breach of a 2017 contract.

The plaint is also against various major platforms such as X, Google, YouTube, Meta (Facebook), and several news outlets to seek that they take down allegedly defamatory articles and posts against them.

Dhoni had recently filed a criminal case against Diwakar and Das, accusing them of duping him of approximately Rs 16 crore by not honouring a contract to establish cricket academies. He has allegedly filed a criminal case in a court in Ranchi against two directors of Aarka Sports, a sports management company.

The contract was entered into between Dhoni and Aarka Sports Management, a company owned by Diwakar and Das.

The contract was for establishing cricket academies in India and globally.

Diwakar claims that Dhoni's lawyer conducted a press conference on January 6 making damaging allegations against him and his wife. The ex-business partners argue that these allegations, widely reported in the media, have tarnished Diwakar's image.