Updated: December 15, 2020, 7:44:51 p.m.
Actors Kangana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan. (File photo)
On December 14, a complaint filed by actor Hrithik Roshan in 2016 about impersonation against “unidentified people” was forwarded by the Mumbai police cyber cell to the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU). The referral comes after a letter from the actor’s lawyer, Mahesh Jethmalani, to the Mumbai Police Commissioner about the lack of progress on the case.
What does Roshan’s complaint have to do with Ranaut?
In 2016, Roshan filed the impersonation complaint after days of intense exchanges with colleague Kangana Ranaut. The argument between the two actors, who worked together in Krrish 3 (2013), had started when Roshan sent Ranaut a legal notice after calling him her “stupid ex” during an interview. He first replied on Twitter, denying the existence of a previous romantic relationship with Ranaut. He wrote that there were more chances that he was having “an affair with the (sic) Pope”. Roshan followed up with a legal notice, demanding a public apology from his former co-actor. Ranaut refused to apologize, claiming the two were romantically involved in 2014. She sent a reply to Roshan asking him to withdraw his resignation or to face criminal proceedings.
Why did Roshan file an impersonation complaint?
Roshan’s legal notice related to mental harassment by Ranaut. It was alleged that she sent him 1,439 emails that he never replied to, telling people in the film industry that they were in a relationship. It indicated that everyone Ranaut had contact with was a scammer pretending to be Roshan.
The argument between the two actors, who worked together in Krrish 3 (2013), had started when Roshan sent Ranaut a legal notice after calling him her “stupid ex” during an interview. (File)
Ranaut declined the proposal, saying that Roshan herself gave her the specific email ID used for her correspondence with him. She added that the email had been kept private to prevent it from negatively affecting the divorce proceedings between Roshan and his wife, Sussanne Khan.
The war of words meanwhile continued on Twitter, and Roshan once claimed that Ranaut “imagined” things while suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome. His comment generated much criticism, particularly from parents of children with autism spectrum disorders.
Roshan eventually filed a case with the Mumbai Police Department’s Cyber Cell under Section 419 (Impersonation) of India’s Criminal Code and Section 66 (c) – Identity Theft – and Section 66 (d) – Fraud By Personification Using Computing Resources – of Information Technology an act. However, the police investigation didn’t come up with great results as it found the email ID is US based and filed a NIL report in 2017. 📣 Follow the express explained in the telegram
How has Ranaut reacted to the latest development?
News of the transmission of the case to the CIU caused a sensation on social media after Ranaut posted a tweet accusing Roshan of digging an old problem and asking, “kab tak royega ek chote se matter ke liye (How long will you cry over a small matter)? She wrote, “His sob story starts all over again, so many years since our separation and divorce, but he refuses to move on, refuses to date a woman just as I have the courage to find hope in my personal life begins he same drama again. “