Dhoni Involved in a Fraud of Rs 42 Crores With the Amrapali Group?

MS Dhoni has been in controversy with the Amrapali Construction group since 2016 in the case of fraud, and has now received a notice from the Supreme Court.

Cricketer and former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his wife Sakshi Dhoni have been involved in a huge controversy in connection to real estate developer Amrapali Group since last 7 years. Thousands of home buyers have accused the Amrapali Group of committing fraud. They have said the builder took money from them but never completed the housing projects. A shocking news has emerged that Dhoni was involved with the builder and cheated the home buyers. Keep watching for the full story. 

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's involvement with the Amrapali Group began with him coming on board as a brand ambassador for the real estate company. MS Dhoni was the brand ambassador for six to seven years, during which period he shot advertisements for the builder. In 2016 residents of Noida's Amrapali Sapphire in Uttar Pradesh started tagging the cricketer on social media. They told Dhoni that the builder did not complete the promised housing projects and appealed to him to disassociate himself from the builder or force them to complete its pending projects. Following the social media controversy, MS Dhoni quit as brand ambassador. In 2017, Mahendra Singh Dhoni also filed a case against the Amrapali Group for unpaid dues. 

The case was filed, first in the Delhi High Court on his behalf by Rhiti Sports Management. Rhiti Sports Management is a sports marketing and management company in which MS Dhoni has major stocks. He is also managed by Rhiti Sports. Rhiti Sports claimed that the real estate developer had failed to pay Dhoni around Rs 150 crore for his services as a brand ambassador. The Delhi High Court had appointed its former judge Veena Birbal as the arbitrator to arbitrate the commercial dispute between the cricketer and the real estate firm. (Arbitrator- a neutral person appointed by the judge, to settle a dispute.) Then in April 2019, Dhoni went to the Supreme Court of India.

The Supreme Court then ordered a forensic audit of Amrapali Builders. The auditors conducted an audit and submitted a report to the Supreme Court and said that between 2009 and 2015, the Amrapali Group paid a total of Rs 42.22 crore to Rhiti Sports. Of this sum, Rs 6.52 crore was paid by Amrapali Sapphire Developers. The audit report contends that the Rs 6.52 crore paid by Amrapali Sapphire Developers to Rhiti Sports actually belonged to home buyers and so, was illegally diverted. MS Dhoni's wife Sakshi Dhoni was a director in Amrapali Mahi Developers. A subsidiary of the Amrapali group. The audit said that Amrapali diverted many illegal funds to Dhoni through his wife Sakshi’s name. They also said the builder and the cricketer got into many fake agreements to divert funds. Rhiti Sports has said that the observations made in the audit report have no proof or supporting documents. ?Now the Supreme Court  canceled the builder’s real estate registration. 

The Supreme Court said that all properties that were left halfway by Amrapali will now be completed by the government company -  National Buildings Construction Corporation and they will complete them in a time-bound manner. The court has also ordered a probe into the Amrapali Group's top management as well as the chartered accountant who oversaw the company's accounts. The SC told the Delhi High Court to keep the arbitration proceeds on hold and has called Dhoni for a hearing on 9 August. What do you think about this whole story surrounding the Indian Cricketer? Do mention your thoughts in the comment section below.

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