As Mahendra Singh Dhoni is continues to play his trade in the IPL to help his side clinch their third title, he has undertaken another challenge off the field. The former Indian captain has filed a lawsuit against the Amrapali Group – the controversial real estate firm – for not paying his dues amounting to a staggering Rs 150 crore.
Amrapali Group has allegedly not paid Dhoni for years for being the brand ambassador of the firm that is now caught in a financial crisis and hasn’t been able to complete housing projects in various cities. Rhiti Sports, a firm that manages cricket stars including Dhoni, has filed a recovery suit in the Delhi High Court against the bankrupt realtor.
“They haven’t given us money for branding and marketing activities,” Arun Pandey, managing director of Rhiti Sports, was quoted as saying by the Economic Times. Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh were appointed as the brand ambassadors of the Amrapali Group which had also promised to gift villas to India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team.
But, neither the villas, nor majority of the housing projects undertaken by the dubious realtor were ever delivered. In 2016, the process of corporate insolvency resolution (under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) was initiated against three Amrapali Group companies on the plea from the Bank of Baroda.
The move affected thousands of home buyers who targetted both Dhoni and Harbhajan for endorsing Amrapali Group. Amid a lot of backlash on the social media, Dhoni and Bhajji resigned as the company’s brand ambassadors in April 2016.
