CHENNAI: Former IPS officer G Sampath Kumar has moved the Madras high court seeking direction to video record the evidence of former cricket skipper M S Dhoni only in a court or a govt building and not in private property such as a luxury hotel. The issue pertains to a Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed by Dhoni against the officer and media houses for linking him in the 2013 IPL betting scam.The applications were, however, not numbered by the registry on the ground of maintainability and were placed before Justice Govindarajan Thilakavathi for scrutiny. On Tuesday, the court directed the applications to be numbered and listed for hearing.The issue pertains to a defamation suit moved by Dhoni in 2014 against the IPS officer, Zee Media, News Nation Network, and Sudhir Chaudhary, editor and business head of Zee News, seeking Rs 100 crore in damages for linking his name in the 2013 IPL betting scam.According to Sampath Kumar, he cannot be made to face defamation for deposition made in his official capacity before the committee appointed to probe the scam, as he was the investigating officer of the scam while he was a Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Q Branch. Zee Media responded to the suit and said it only reported the deposition of Sampath Kumar made to the Mudgal Committee appointed to probe the scam.
