Hrithik Roshan issues statement on Kangana Ranaut spat

The row began as a war of words between the two sides when, in an interview last year, Ranaut said that she didn’t understand why “exes do silly things” to get attention.

The latest salvo in the ongoing row between Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut has been fired by the former who took to Twitter on Thursday to make his first public statement on the matter. Writing that he could no longer ignore the “dirty perverse mess” that he had been “dragged” into, the actor stated, “The truth is, I have never met the lady in question one on one in my entire life. Yes, we have worked together, but there has been no meeting in private. Thats (sic) the truth.” He further stated that there was no evidence to back up Ranaut’s claim that the two had been in a “7-year long, passionate affair” and said “I have been harassed by this for 4 years and the well meaning and probably necessary social bias towards women has deemed me helpless in defending myself.”

The row began as a war of words between the two sides when, in an interview last year, Ranaut said that she didn’t understand why “exes do silly things” to get attention. This was in response to a question about whether Roshan had had her dropped as the female lead in Aashiqui 3. Roshan responded on Twitter by denying any such relationship, but the matter quickly escalated when he sent her a legal notice, demanding an apology. In response Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui sent a 21-page reply stating that whatever happened between the two “was with full consent of both parties”.

A major bone of contention in the matter is the large number of emails which Ranaut claims to have received from Roshan, and which the latter has denied sending. In interviews given over the course of the row, Ranaut had opened up about the affair and even demanded an apology from Roshan for having caused her “mental trauma” by leaking the emails she had sent him, while in April this year, Roshan’s lawyers filed a complaint asserting that Ranaut had been stalking and harassing the actor by sending explicit emails. Gunjan Mangla, an associate of Mahesh Jethmalani, working on Roshan’s case told The Indian Express, “All emails were submitted to the cyber crime cell and the investigation is underway. Mr Roshan has also submitted his passport details, to counter all the allegations made by Ms. Ranaut. We are positive that cyber cell will do a fair investigation.”

Responding to the latest development, Ranaut’s sister Rangoli Chandel posted a photo on Twitter of an email allegedly received from Roshan. Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiquiee claimed that Roshan was using diversionary tactics and not answering questions. The statement concludes, “My client demands to know that except for unreliable, fabricated and unverified emails which Mr. Hrithik Roshan is relying upon (and has never shown to my client till date), is there any other act of stalking that has been indulged in on the part of my client. If no then on what grounds is Mr. Hrithik Roshan claiming to be stalked by my client ?”