Chennai, February 12 The Madras High Court has directed cricketer M S Dhoni to pay Rs 10 lakh towards the translation of content related to the defamation suit he filed against retired IPS officer G Sampathkumar, seeking Rs 100 crore in damages for allegedly linking him to the 2013 IPL betting scam.
Justice R N Manjula gave the directive while passing further interim orders on February 11 in a case filed by Dhoni.
In her order, the judge said, pursuant to the order dated October 28, 2025, the court's interpreter has taken on the task of transcribing and translating the contents of the CDs involved in this case. However, the order was passed on the condition that the necessary charges would be paid.
The judge said that the interpreter informed that this was a huge task, and it would take at least one interpreter and a typist several months to complete it.
Since the time of one interpreter and the involvement of a typist were also required, along with the additional cost of preparing copies, the charges for transcription and translation were fixed at Rs 10 lakh, which was to be paid by the plaintiff (Dhoni).
The judge said that in normal circumstances, it is the plaintiff who has to do this work and file the documents along with his plaint.
Given the specific circumstances and as mentioned in the earlier order dated October 28, 2025, it was obligatory on the part of the plaintiff to pay the cost of the job done, the judge said.
Directing the interpreter to complete the transcription and translation of the contents of the CDs before the third week of March, 2026, the judge said that the Rs 10 lakh had to be paid by the plaintiff to the account of the Chief Justice Relief Fund, Madras High Court, on or before March 12, 2026. The judge further posted the hearing of the case to March 12.
The language involved in the translation work could not be immediately ascertained.
