Actor Hrithik Roshan, who has so far been quiet over the ongoing legal trouble between himself and Kangana Ranaut, on Thursday (17 March) finally decided to break his silence, and sought to clarify that a purported email address said to be his did not belong to him, reports IANS.

‘Anything private that becomes public gives rise to speculation and unnecessary controversies simply because the general public are not privy to the whole truth,’ Hrithik said in an official statement.

‘Out of respect for everyone involved, I followed the legal path to resolve the matter in question so as to keep it private. It was a breach of ethics to reveal the contents of a private legal notice. Dignified silence is dignified up to a point, but there comes a time when the silence needs to be broken to protect one’s name, family and image,’ he added.

Hrithik also said the mail id — hroshan@email.com — does not belong to him.

‘The crux of the matter is that the mail id hroshan@email.com does NOT belong to me. I had filed a complaint in this regard with Mumbai Cyber Crime cell on 12 December, 2014 when I learnt of this impersonator communicating with said person. I have absolutely NO CONNECTION with this ID.

‘The entire issue stems from a case of identity theft which has carried over to me. My complaint was reactivated on March 5, 2016 and the crime unit has made headway in tracking this person down. Once that is done, the matter can be laid to rest.

‘And finally, I believe that mental health is a grave and crucial issue which merits serious discussion. I would never address it flippantly nor use it as a personal attack. Any allegation to the contrary is a misrepresentation of facts. I was requested to keep silent and I did so for 2 years,’ he said.

The issue began when Kangana hinted at Hrithik being her ‘ex’ as she said in an interview that she fails to understand ‘why exes do silly things to get your attention’.

The topic in discussion was Hrithik’s purported hand in getting Kangana replaced by Sonam Kapoor in ‘Aashiqui 3’.