Ahmed Ali (THE TIMES OF INDIA; December 15, 2020)

Mumbai: An FIR lodged by actor Hrithik Roshan in 2016 against unknown persons for creating a fake email ID in his name and communicating with actor Kangana Ranaut has been transferred by Mumbai Police to its crime intelligence unit (CIU) to speed up the probe.

The FIR was registered in March 2016 but there has not been any progress since. Hrithik had complained of an alleged imposter sending emails in 2014 to his former co-actor Ranaut using a fake email id containing his name.

Pursuant to the FIR, the cyber crime cell of Mumbai police had issued Ranaut summons to appear before them but she had challenged the action saying the summons was illegal.

Sources said the case was transferred to the CIU after Roshan’s advocate Mahesh Jethmalani wrote to the Mumbai police commissioner this month stating that

there was no progress in the investigations even after four years. The cyber police had registered an offence under Indian Penal Code section 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) and section 66 of Information Technology (IT) Act.

Hrithik and Kanagana had engaged in an ugly spat on social media in 2016. Jethmalani’s letter addressed to commissioner Param Bir Singh dated December 9 says Roshan wanted to assist the police in its probe. “It is pertinent to state that in spite of an order dated 30.11.2016, passed by the Magistrate, Esplanade Court, directing the return of our client's laptop and phone he has not collected the same as he wanted to assist the police reach the real culprits...’’

The letter also spoke about a subsequent complaint filed on April 7, 2017 with a cyber police station in which “the immense harassment and stalking caused to our client has been detailed at length. Our client handed over all the relevant documents… our client also met the top officials… and informed them about the trauma caused to him and his family. He also reiterated his request for a timely investigation. However till date there has been no progress...”

In a tweet, Ranaut reacted to the news saying, “his sob story starts again, so many years since our break-up… he refuses to move on…he starts the same drama again.”
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Mumbai Police say decision based on a request from Hrithik Roshan’s lawyer
Vinay Dalvi (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 15, 2020)

The Mumbai Police have decided to transfer a 2016 complaint filed by actor Hrithik Roshan from cyber cell to the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU).

The police said the decision to transfer the case was taken on the request of his lawyer, Mahesh Jethmalani, who recently wrote to the police commissioner that there was no progress in the investigation into the case.

Hrithik had said in his complaint in 2016 that someone posing as him was emailing actor Kangana Ranaut from a bogus email ID. Kangana, however, claimed that the ID was provided to her by Hrithik himself, and that they were corresponding through this ID till May 2014.

Hrithik had also submitted his laptop and phone to the police then.

Hrithik’s lawyer in his letter urged the commissioner of police to ensure completion of investigation at the earliest.

Hrithik and Kangana had worked together in Kites (2010) and Kriish 3 (2013).

The actors had slapped notices on each other in 2016. Hrithik sent Kangana a legal notice after she, in an interview, called him a ‘silly ex’. He refuted the claims of an affair between the two.

There were reports that Kangana had sent several emails to Hrithik during their ‘courtship’ way back in 2014. The actor had said he got around 1,439 emails from Kangana most of them “senseless, personal and absurd”.

Kangana said that it was Hrithik himself who gave her a new email ID as he did not want his divorce proceedings to be affected.