I-T raids on actor Vijay, filmmakers reveal undeclared income over Rs 300 cr

mangaloretoday/ yahoo

Chennai, Feb 08, 2020: On Wednesday, on the sets of his upcoming film ‘Master’ actor Vijay was questioned by sleuths of the IT department regarding his links to noted filmmakers, including those who reportedly financed his latest film Bigil.

The Income Tax officials Thursday said raids at several properties linked to Tamil film industry personalities, including actor Vijay, has led to the discovery of undeclared income in excess of Rs 300 crore. Officials said the remuneration received by Vijay for his last film Bigil and his recent investments in immovable properties are also being probed.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) spokesperson Surabhi Ahluwalia said: "As per evidence detected during the search, it is estimated that the concealment in this case is likely to exceed Rs 300 crore."

Official also seized Rs 77 crores of unaccounted cash after raiding several hideouts and properties located in Chennai and Madurai, allegedly belonging to film financier Anbu Chezhiyan. A large number of property documents, promissory notes, and postdated cheques which were taken as collateral security, Ahluwalia said.

On Wednesday, on the sets of his upcoming film ‘Master’, Vijay was questioned by I-T sleuths regarding his links to noted filmmakers, including those who reportedly financed his latest film ’Bigil’. The actor was summoned by the officials at Neyveli where the shooting was taking place and brought back to Chennai. The development happened just a few hours after the officials conducted a similar search operation at financier Anbu Chezhiyan’s house and office premises and at various entities owned by the AGS group.

A press release issued today said, “On 05-02-2020, the Income Tax Department conducted a search in the case of 4 major players in the film Industry including a producer, a prominent actor, his distributor and financier based in Tamil Nadu. The common thread among all these entities was the success of a recent film which was a box office hit collecting around Rs. 300 crore. About 38 premises of the group were covered in search and survey actions spread over Chennai and Madurai. The distributor, who is a part of the group searched, is also a builder. All documents in original, belonging to the distributor have been recovered from a hideout place, which was the house of his friend. Scrutiny of the evidence so unearthed is under progress.”

Vijay’s upcoming flick ‘Master’ is directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj of Kaithi fame. The film also stars Vijay Sethupathi, Malavika Mohanan, Andrea Jeremiah, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj and Arjun Das.