The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed a criminal complaint filed against cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni for appearing as the god Vishnu on a magazine cover in 2013, ANI reported. An apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Mishra said that the act could not be counted as having hurt religious sentiments, which is what the complainant had alleged.

Dhoni, the former India captain, had been issued a non-bailable warrant by a court in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh, for being portrayed as the Hindu deity while holding products that he endorsed, such as a bottled soft drink and a bag of chips. Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Shyam Sunder had filed the petition against Dhoni and the magazine in a district court, claiming that the portrayal had hurt Hindu sentiments.

In September last year, too, the Supreme Court had quashed criminal proceedings against Dhoni on the same matter.