ANANTAPUR: The Anantapur SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act court, which issued an arrest warrant against Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on June 24, recalled the same on Wednesday following Dhoni’s counsel submitting a petition containing the original signature of Dhoni.
After the publication of a picture on the cover page of a magazine last year, in which the captain of the Indian cricket team was portrayed as Hindu God Vishnu and was holding products of several Multi-national Companies (MNCs) including a shoe in his hand.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad district vice-president Y Syamsundar filed a petition in Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on June 3, 2013 seeking action against Dhoni on the charges of hurting the sentiments of Hindus with the act of carrying a shoe in one of his hands.
However, following the Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate Court dismissing the petition, on November 8, 2013, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader approached the SC, ST (PoA) court and filed a revision petition.
The court, which issued summons to Dhoni, issued the warrant on June 24 after he failed to appear before the court.
The SC/ST court also issued summons to the magazine editor Chaitanya Kalbag in connection with the case and asked the police to arrest and produce Dhoni in the court on July 16.
Against this backdrop, advocate Punkaj Bhagla from Delhi moved a Vakalat petition containing the cricketer’s original signature in the court on Wednesday and urged the court to cancel the arrest warrant issued against Dhoni.
He also filed a counter mentioning that Dhoni was not connected to the photograph and it was a graphic design. The judge also asked magazine editor’s advocate Yagna Datta to file a counter.