News Brief
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap (Source: Twitter)
The income tax (IT) department in a statement on Thursday (04 March) stated that it found evidence of huge suppression of income and a discrepancy of around Rs 300 crore after carrying out searches at various places linked to actor Tapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap.
Search operations are carried out at Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad. A total of 28 premises are covered in different locations which includes residences and offices.
During the search, evidence of huge suppression of income compared to the actual box office collections has been unearthed. The company officials have not been able to explain the discrepancy of around Rs 300 crore, said the statement from IT department.
Also evidence related to manipulation and under-valuation of share transactions of the production house amongst the film directors and shareholders, having tax implication of about Rs 350 crore has been found.
Evidence of cash receipts by the leading actress amounting to Rs 5 crore has been recovered and further investigation is going on.
At the office premises of the two talent management companies, huge amounts of digital data has been seized in the form of emails, whatsapp chats, hard disk etc which are under investigation.
During the search, seven bank lockers have been found which have been placed under restraint.
The others searched include some Phantom Films production house employees, which was dissolved in 2018, director-producer Vikramaditya Motwane, producer Vikas Bahl and producer-distributor Madhu Mantena, reports Hindustan Times.
The opposition parties have slammed the raids. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the raids are being carried out against those who supported farmer protests.