23 April,2016 07:18 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
A magistrate has issued summons to a Pennsylvania-based domain company demanding details of the alleged impersonator's e-mails to actress Kangana Ranaut
Sources in Mumbai police's Cyber Cell have told mid-day that they have identified the Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania-based domain company through which actor Hrithik Roshan's alleged imposter registered the e-mail ID: hroshan@e-mail.com.
Police sources claimed investigation into the e-mail ID through which the imposter had allegedly exchanged intimate e-mails with Ranaut was registered in the US. File pic
The development is crucial to Roshan in his ongoing tussle with fellow actor Kangana Ranaut, who he has accused of defamation. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate AR Natu on Monday issued the summons against the company, asking them to furnish the required information in the matter. The police will also examine Ranaut's laptop and mobile phone.
Police sources claimed investigation into the e-mail ID through which the imposter had allegedly exchanged intimate e-mails with Ranaut was registered from the domain company 1&1 Mail & Media Inc, 701 Lee Rd, Chesterbrook, PA 19087 in United States and was hosted on Mail.com.
The company runs the e-mail service Mail.com, which offers e-mail ids under many domain names including @e-mail.com. An e-mail sent to hroshan@e-mail.com on Friday evening was undelivered with an auto-response stating that the e-mail ID (mailbox) no longer exists or has changed.
Sources in the Cyber Cell said they had earlier written to the company's chief technical officers seeking information, to which the company responded asking the police to contact its legal department with a subpoena, (A subpoena, in the American judicial system, is a request for the production of documents, or a request to appear in court or other legal proceeding).
With the police claiming the magistrate's order can be treated as a subpoena, any response from the company will help the Cyber Crime Cell to identify the sender, IP address of the sender and the places where he or she used the e-mail from. Considering how easy it is create a fake e-mail ID, and also to create a fake IP address, even this effort may bear no result.
Series of e-mails
According to the police, the issue came to light on May 24, 2014, when, at Karan Johar's birthday party, Ranaut thanked Roshan for his appreciation of her work in Queen.
When Roshan told her he had never seen the film, Ranaut told him she has been communicating with him on hroshan@e-mail.com.
The animosity between the two actors was re-ignited in January, when Ranaut said in an interview that âsilly exes should stop keeping tabs' on her. Roshan soon posted on social media that the chances of him having an affair with the Pope were higher.
