Jaipur Police have arrested a former business partner of cricketer MS Dhoni over a fraud complaint filed by him. Mihir Diwakar, who is also a childhood friend of the former India skipper, was picked up from Noida Sector-16 late Wednesday night.
Mr Diwakar, also a former cricketer, had allegedly defrauded Mr Dhoni of over Rs 15 crore by not honouring a contract, according to the complaint.
Mr Dhoni had become a business partner at Aarka Sports and Management Limited owned by Mr Diwakar and his wife Soumya Vishwas in 2017, and struck a deal with them to open cricket academies in India and abroad.
Aarka Sports was liable to pay the franchise fee and share profits with Mr Dhoni, but the terms and conditions were violated, said the complaint. But the firm allegedly began setting up academies without informing Mr Dhoni and did not make any payments.
The authority letter provided to them was revoked in 2021, but despite that the firm continued setting up cricket academies and sports complexes in Mr Dhoni’s name without sharing any amount or information with him, Mr Dhoni’s lawyer Dayanand Singh said.
Mr Dhoni, through his lawyer, had claimed that the firm violated the agreement norms, due to which he lost more than Rs 15 crore.
Mr Diwakar, who had started his career at the same time as Mr Dhoni and had been part of the Indian team in the Under-19 World Cup held in 2000, is the managing editor of the company, showed the firm’s website.
A police team from Jaipur reached Noida late Wednesday night and took Mr Diwakar in custody. However, according to the Noida Police, they were not officially informed about the arrest.
