Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become the highest income tax-paying individual, in both Bihar and Jharkhand region, as he paid Rs. 12.17 crores in the 2017-18 fiscal, senior Income Tax officials in Ranchi said yesterday, i.e. July 23. This year the former Indian captain's tax amount saw a rise of Rs. 1.24 crores than what he had paid in the previous fiscal, i.e. 2016-17.

V Mahalingam, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Jharkhand region) also said, “Dhoni had paid Rs 10.93 crore as income tax in 2016-17, but he was not the highest taxpayer in that fiscal.”

MS Dhoni currently holds a Grade-A category annual contract by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Dhoni had also launched an apparel brand ‘SEVEN’ last year. He is also a co-owner of the Chennayin FC franchise in the Indian Super League (ISL). Also, Dhoni is a joint-owner of Ranchi Rays franchise in the Hockey India League (HIL).

As the list released by the Forbes, MS Dhoni is the third highest-paid cricketer, after Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar on the top two spots. As per Forbes, his estimated earnings were said to be of Rs. 63.7 crores.

Recently, MS Dhoni drew a lot of flak for his tepid performances in the recently concluded One Day International (ODI) series against England. Speculations were doing the rounds that he might retire soon from the limited-overs format too after he was seen collecting the match ball from the match officials after the culmination of the Third ODI match. However, head coach Ravi Shastri was quick to dismiss the brewing speculations.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 24, 2018 09:34 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).