TLI Staff
New Delhi: The search operations of Income Tax (I-T) department on film personalities continued on Thursday with authorities claiming to have found discrepancy in transactions and alleged bunglings worth Rs 650 crore.
“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 department spokesperson said in a statement.
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, it added.
Without naming the personalities, the statement said that I-T department continued search and survey operations which started February 3 on two leading film production companies, a leading actress and two talent management companies in Mumbai.
Premises related to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actress Tapsee Pannu have been reported to have faced searches by the Tax department.
The tax department has claimed evidence of cash receipts by the leading actress amounting to Rs 5 crore and 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,” the I-T department said.
At the office premises of the two talent management companies, huge amount of digital data has been seized in the form of emails, whatsapp chats, hard disk etc which are scanned for links to possible tax evasion.
During the search, 7 bank lockers have been found which have been placed under restraint.
“Search is continuing in all the premises,” said I-T department statement.
Search operation is being carried out at Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad. Those being investigated for possible tax evasion are engaged in the business of Production of Motion Pictures, Web Series, acting, direction and talent management of celebrities and other artists.
A total of 28 premises are being covered in different locations which includes residences and offices.