Dhoni weds college sweetheart at private affair
By IANSSunday, July 4, 2010
DEHRADUN/LUCKNOW - Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni tied the knot with fiancee Sakshi Rawat at a very private affair on the outskirts of Dehradun Sunday evening, a day after the couple’s hush-hush engagement.
The mahurat, or auspicious time, for the wedding was fixed for 8.35 p.m. at a country villa owned by former Rajasthan chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vasundhara Raje, a highly-placed source told IANS.
The country villa is on the Dehradun-Chakrata road, 20 km away from the place where his engagement was held Saturday, at Bhagirath resort.
Around half an hour before the auspicious time, Dhoni on horseback and other guests, which included his team-mates Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Ashish Nehra and R.P. Singh and actor John Abraham, walked for around half-a-kilometer to the bride’s place, located at the same resort’s premises.
John Abraham reached Dehradun, along with Dhoni’s teammate Piyush Chawla, earlier Sunday to attend Dhoni’s wedding
N. Srinivasan, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary and the owner of Chennai Super Kings, which Dhoni led to victory in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) season, was present at the ceremony.
John’s girlfriend and actress Bipasha Basu took to microblogging site Twitter to congratulate the couple.
“Wishing Mahi and Sakshi a very happy life together forever. Sad that I can’t be there,” she tweeted.
Bipasha also refuted rumours that Dhoni decided to get married on the spur of the moment, saying the wedding was planned months in advance.
“The wedding on Sunday night was all planned. But no one was supposed to know about it. Whatever the truth, we must all be happy for the couple. It’s party time!” she said.
Shilpa Shetty also congratulated the couple, posting: “Congratulations in order to Mahi and Sakshi, wishing them all the happiness and marital bliss forever.”
The media was kept far away. The hordes of media persons and television OB vans gathered there were not being allowed to proceed by private security guards, around more than one and a half kilometre from the venue, the source said.
Director General of Police Uttarakhand, Subhash Joshi told IANS that he too has not been invited. “I have not got an invite. They are taking the assistance of local police.”
“They want to have their privacy and we don’t want to encroach on it,” he said.
The girl’s cousin Abhilasha Bhisht, a Deputy Inspector General of Police who is on deputation on an UN assignment, belongs to the place, said a source.
Dhoni has been reported to have visited Dehradun and Mussoori frequently over the last two years. The girl’s father and Dhoni’s father were working together in Ranchi. Her grandfather, a retired divisional forest officer, lives in Dehradun.
