New Delhi: The Income Tax Department conducted raids on the properties of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actress Taapsee Pannu and director-producer Vikas Bahl on Wednesday (March 3) in relation to a tax evasion probe against now shut production house Phantom Films.
As per initial reports, a discrepancy of around Rs 300 crore has been uncovered during the probe. The company officials reportedly failed to explain this discrepancy. “During the search, 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,” the official statement by the Income Tax department said on Thursday.
“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 and is being further investigated,” the statement added.
“Evidence of cash receipts by the leading actress amounting to Rs 5 crore has been recovered. Further investigation is going on. Apart from this, non-genuine/bogus expenditure to related concerns by the leading producers/director having tax implication of about Rs. 20 crore has been detected. Similar findings have been made in the case of the leading actress also,” it further said.
The I-T raid was also conducted at properties linked to Madhu Mantena’s KWAN Talent Management Agency in Mumbai. Around 28 premises including residences and offices are being searched. Two leading film production companies, a leading actress and two Talent Management companies in Mumbai are under scanner.
Meanwhile, digital data in the form of emails, WhatsApp chats, hard disks etc have been seized, the statement revealed. Around seven lockers have been put under restraint and the search is still on at all the premises.
Earlier reports revealed that Taapsee and Anurag Kashyap were reportedly grilled for about 6 hours. The celebrities involved are yet to comment on the recent developments.
