Discrepancies Worth Rs. 650 Crores Found In I-T Raid On Anurag Kashyap, Taapsee Pannu

OVERVIEW 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes 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.

FURTHER DETAILS 

The officials claimed that the production house staff was unable to explain financial irregularities of about Rs. 300 crores. They also said to have discovered evidence of manipulation and under-valuation of shares of Phantom Films, resulting in tax implications of about Rs. 350 crores. 

The second film production company, belonging to Kashyap, was found to have evidences of ‘huge suppression of income’ in comparison to the actual box office collections made by the production house. 

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.

The officials have also suspected Phantom Films shareholders to have been involved in the alleged tax evasion, and the production house is alleged to have executed a stake sale and evaded taxes from the money generated from the same.

“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.”

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.

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.

The raids have been slammed by the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who has often suggested that the central government tends to misuse central agencies to ‘target those who oppose government policies.’ Kashyap and Pannu both have been notably vocal against the Modi-led government on several matters, including the farmers’ protests in the recent past.

CONCLUSION 

Discrediting the allegations that the raids were conducted due the comments made by the celebrities against the Centre, the Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said at a press conference on that the agencies have undertaken investigations based on ‘credible information.’

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE RAIDS AGAINST THE BOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES WERE CONDUCTED DUE TO THEIR COMMENTS AGAINST THE GOVT. POLICIES? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!