Minutes after cricketer Smriti Mandhana officially called off her wedding with music composer Palaash Muchhal, the latter broke his silence, saying that he has decided to move on with his personal life and legal action will be taken against those who spread “baseless rumours” about him cheating on Smriti.
Addressing rumours that the wedding was postponed and subsequently cancelled due to Mucchal cheating on Mandhana, the composer wrote on his Instagram stories, "It's been very difficult for me to see people react so easily to baseless rumours about something which has been most sacred to me. It's the most difficult phase of my life and I will deal with it gracefully holding on to my beliefs. I truly hope we, as a society, learn to pause before judging someone based on unverified gossip, whose sources are never identified. Our words can wound in ways we may never understand.”
“While we think about these things, many people in the world are facing drastic consequences. My team will be taking strict legal action against those spreading false and defamatory content. Thank you to everyone who has stood by me with kindness in this tough time,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Smriti wrote, “Over the past few weeks there has been plenty of speculation around my life and I feel it is important for me to speak out at this time. I am a very private person and I would like to keep it that way but I need to clarify that the wedding is called off.”
"I would like to close this matter here and implore all of you to do the same. I request you to please respect the privacy of both families at this time and allow us the space to process and move on at our own pace," she added in her note.
Ahead of Palaash and Smriti’s 23 November wedding, the cricketer’s father Srinivas Mandhana was hospitalised due to cardiac issues. Soon after that, Palaash also had to be rushed to a hospital for treatment of a viral infection and acidity issues.
However, social media has been rife with rumours of Palaash having cheated on Smriti with a choreographer. Palaash's purported chats with a choreographer went viral on social media. Amid speculation, choreographers Mary D'costa and Nandika Dwivedi publicly denied any involvement with Palaash.
Smriti’s wedding-related posts, engagement announcements, reels, and the proposal video have been deleted from her profile. Smriti’s close friend and Indian Women’s cricket team player Jemimah Rodrigues has also deleted the engagement videos and pictures from her profile.