A non-bailable warrant was issued against India’s limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Friday by a court here with regard to his photo as God Vishnu on a magazine cover. According to reports, the warrant was issued against the Indian skipper by a court in Anantapur and has been asked to appear on February 25.
Dhoni is currently in Australia to play 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is against the hosts from January 12. The tour ends on January 31.
In the April 2013 edition of “Business Today” magazine, Dhoni’s face was morphed as God Vishnu on the cover page with the title “God of big deals”. For this, cases were filed against the cricketer for “denigrating” Hindu God.
In August 2015, the Karnataka High Court, after taking up the case, had observed: “A celebrity and a cricketer like Dhoni should know the consequences of hurting religious sentiments of people. He should have known the consequences of doing such ads.”
In his defence, Dhoni had said he did not pose as God. “I haven’t received any remuneration/goodwill or money for the news article or for usage of my picture on the cover page or anywhere else. Neither have I posed for the picture which was published in the magazine on April 14, 2013,” the captain had said.
In September 2015, the Supreme Court had stayed criminal proceedings against Dhoni in the same case where he was alleged to have deliberately hurt religious sentiments by posing as God Vishnu.