Amrapali says cheques given to Dhoni were to build hospital

New Delhi: Real estate firm Amrapali on Monday said cheques for Rs 75 crore given to Indian cricket team captain M S Dhoni were for building a hospital in Ranchi and the same were returned as the project did not take off.

The developer`s remark come amid reports that the cheques given by the company to Dhoni were under the I-T scanner. "We had given cheques to Dhoni for building a hospital in Ranchi. The project, however, could not take off and hence the cheques were returned," Amrapali group CMD Anil Kumar Sharma, who is fighting his maiden general elections from Bihar on JD (U) ticket, told PTI. He was replying to a query related to media reports that the Income Tax Department was looking into cheques issued by Amrapali Group to Dhoni, who is a brand ambassador for the group. A media report had said that "issued in the financial year 2011-2012, the cheques were to be encashed in 2014". Sharma, who has entered politics and is fighting the Lok Sabha polls from Jehanabad seat in Bihar, said, however, he could not recollect the exact date when the cheques were returned. Meanwhile, sources in the tax department said they were not "investigating any tax evasion case" against Dhoni including in the recent cheque case.