NEW DELHI: Ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni got into a fresh controversy off the cricket grounds as the firm that promotes him, Rhiti Sports Management Pvt Ltd, was indicted by the Supreme Court for having entered into a sham agreement with the Amrapali Group to divert homebuyers’ money. The Supreme Court verdict on Amrapali on Tuesday cited a forensic audit report that said the group paid Rs 42.22 crore to Rhiti between 2009 and 2015. Of the sum, `6.52 crore was paid by Amrapali Sapphire Developers Pvt Ltd.
An agreement in 2015 gave Amrapali the right to advertise its logo during IPL 2015 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The agreement was on plain paper and executed only between Amrapali and Rhiti. There were no signatories on behalf of CSK.
The conclusion: they were sham agreements made just for making payments to Rhiti. “We feel that homebuyers money has been diverted illegally and wrongly to Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited and should be recovered from them as the said agreement in our opinion do not stand the test of law,” justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit said in the verdict.
While Dhoni was among the shareholders of Rhiti earlier, he distanced himself from it in 2013 because of alleged conflict of interest, which was later confirmed by Rhiti sports director Arun Pandey. However, Dhoni’s name still figures under the head stars and brands in Rhiti’s website.
Amrapali had more than 100 shell companies. Dhoni’s wife Sakshi was director of one such shell company, Amrapali Mahi Developers Pvt Ltd, which was used to divert funds.Despite multiple efforts, Dhoni could not be reached for his comments.