Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s financial association with a sports management firm has come under media scrutiny despite denials that the India captain had any direct stake in the company.
The spotlight turned on Dhoni amid the focus on conflicts of interest among the country’s cricket elite.
The Times of India on Wednesday reported on Dhoni’s association with Rhiti Sports chairman Arun Pandey, saying the India captain and Rhiti shared stakes in several organisations.
Rhiti Sports manages cricketers Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha, and Dhoni’s association with the company raises the question of whether he influenced selection to benefit the firm’s clients.
The Dhoni link comes days after the nation’s cricket chief, Narainswamy Srinivasan, temporarily stood down during investigations of an alleged conflict of interest relating to the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal.
Though Pandey said Dhoni had a holding in Rhiti Sports for only a limited period, The Times of India reported Dhoni had a direct stake in another company, Rhiti MSD Alamode, and indirect interests in a few others, all run by Pandey.
“As on date, MSD holds no shareholding in Rhiti Sports Management (P) Ltd,” Pandey said in his statement. “However, it is made clear that shareholding was allotted to MSD on 22.03.2013 (March 22) only to secure certain old outstandings which were due for more than one year.”
Pandey claimed Dhoni no longer has a share in the firm.
“Further, the payments were cleared in April 2013 and the shareholding was transferred back to promoter of the company on 26.04.2013 (April 26),” Pandey said.
The governance of Indian cricket is in the spotlight after allegations of spot-fixing in the IPL led to the arrest of former test cricketer Shantakumaran Sreesanth plus two other players.
The three cricketers are alleged to have given away a set minimum amount of runs per over in IPL games in return for money from illegal bookmakers.
The trail of arrests of bookmakers led to Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan, a senior figure at the Chennai Super Kings franchise, who was allegedly in touch with actor Vindoo Randhawa, an alleged conduit between bookmakers and players.
Srinivasan gave in to mounting pressure when he agreed to step aside while Meiyappan’s role in spot-fixing is investigated.
Randhawa and Meiyappan were granted bail on Tuesday. Sreesanth and Chandila remain in prison while Chavan was granted interim bail until Thursday as he got married last Sunday.
