The Income Tax Department has uncovered a discrepancy of Rs 350 crore following the raids at the properties of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actress Taapsee Pannu. The raids were conducted in relation to tax evasion investigation.
Initially the Dept had failed to prove this discrepancy.
A statement released the I-T Dept on Thursday said, “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 tax evasion investigation was ordered against the Phantom Films, a production house dissolved in 2018.
“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.”
“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,” read a statement.
The raids are still in process, all the possible data like WhatsApp chats, hard disks, emails etc are seized and seven lockers have also been restricted.
The Dept is also conducting its raids on the properties associated with Madhu Mantena’s KWAN Talent Management Agency in Mumbai.
About 28 premises are being searched that include a leading actress, two leading production houses and two Talent Management companies.
