Income Tax Raids Against Anurag Kashyap And Taapsee Pannu

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday claimed to have found financial irregularities worth over Rs. 650 crores during their raids conducted at various places linked to the Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. The department had deputed around 168 tax officials to search 28 locations in Mumbai and Pune, in relation to the alleged tax evasion by Kashyap’s firms, his former business partners, Pannu, and two talent management agencies – KWAN Entertainment and Exceed Entertainment. The I-T officials also looked in the premises of the production house Phantom Films, that was co-promoted by Kashyap and film producers Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

The CBDT stated that the investigation was mainly involved in looking into the business of production of motion pictures, web series, acting, direction and talent management of celebrities and other artists. The officials claimed that the production house staff was unable to explain financial irregularities of about Rs. 300 crores and have claimed to have found evidence related to manipulation and under-valuations of shares of Phantom Films among filmmakers and shareholders, with tax implication of around Rs. 350 crores. The second film production firm, belonging to Anurag Kashyap seemed to have evidence of ‘huge suppression’ of income in comparison to the actual box office earnings, as claimed by the administrative body of the I-T department. The production house had allegedly taken out a stake sale and failed to pay the income tax due from those earnings. The Central Board of Direct Taxes spokesperson Surabhi Ahluwalia stated that the agency has unearthed evidence of cash receipts by Pannu amounting to Rs. 5 crores, and bogus expenditure of Kashyap with tax implications of about Rs. 20 crores. Shareholders of Phantom Films are also being said to have engaged in the alleged tax evasion. Investigations against Mantena were all carried out regarding his links with KWAN, whose client list includes Deepika Padukone, while Exceed manages Saif Ali Khan and Sonakshi Sinha, among several other celebrities. Additionally, ‘non-genuine or bogus expenditure’ by Kashyap has been detected to have tax implications worth almost Rs. 20 crores. Huge amonts of digital data has been annexed, in forms of emails, WhatsApp conversations, hard drives from the offices of KWAN and Exceed. Further, seven bank lockers were found by the officials that have been placed under restraint, and the investigation shall be continued for the time being, stated by Surabhi Ahluwalia, CBDT spokesperson. Kashyap and Pannu, who have been shooting in Pune for their upcoming film Dobaara, were also interrogated by the income tax officials.

“Evidence of huge suppression of income by the leading film production house compared to the actual box office collections has been unearthed. The company officials have not been able to explain discrepancy of around Rs. 300 crore. Similar findings have been made in case of the leading actress also. 

CRITICISM OF BIAS

The raids have been condemned by the opposition parties. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has often suggested that the central government tends to misuse central agencies like Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation to ‘target those who oppose government policies’, slammed the move in his recent tweet. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik had similar statements, along with his cabinet member and Congress leader Ashok Chavan.

“We have been seeing this as happening often. Those who put forth facts are being pressurised in this way so that they don’t speak up.”

Both, Kashyap and Pannu have been notably vocal in their views on a range of issues against the Narendra Modi-led government, including the recent farmers’ protests against the new agricultural laws. Pannu had tweeted last on March 1, regarding the Supreme Court order asking a man accused of rape if he would be willing to marry the victim. On discovering that the accused was already married, he was asked to seek regular bail from the concerned court. Kashyap had also visited JNU and Shaheen Bagh during the anti-CAA protests in the previous year and is also known to be vocal about his views, has been silent on Twitter recently. 

The government ministers however have rejected the allegations posed by the opposition parties that raids against Kashyap and Pannu were conducted due to their comments. Union minister Prakash Javadekar addressed the concern at a press conference on Wednesday stating the following,

“This is too much. Probe agencies undertake investigations based on credible information and the matter later goes to courts as well.”

CONCLUSION 

So far, the tax raids have seemed to unearth monumental amounts of irregularities in the finances that have been looked into. The income tax department administration stated the investigation is still in works and were being carried out until as recently as Thursday.

DO YOU THINK THE RAIDS CONDUCTED HAVE BEEN AUHTORISED DUE TO BIAS? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!