The Income Tax Department carried out raids at homes and offices of Anurag Kashyap, Taapsee Pannu, Vikas Bahl, among others, on Wednesday. According to the official information, the raid is a part of a tax evasion probe against Phantom Films.
The production produced movies like Queen, Masan, and NH-10. It was, however, disbanded in 2018 following a sexual assault case on Vikas Bahl.
An I-T department source related to the probe told IANS that multiple teams of the agency carried out searches at over 30 locations in Mumbai and Pune. The search covered the premises of the Phantom Films and former partner of Phantom Films, Madhu Mantena, and the premises of some executives of talent management company Kwann.
The source informed further that the searches were in connection with "tax evasion". The source pointed out that there are some inter-linked transactions between these entities. "Searches are aimed at gathering more evidence to further probe the tax evasion allegations," the source added.
Anuraj, Vikas, and Taaspsee have occasionally been vocal on social media platforms raising concerns over the farmers' protest.
Reacting to the news of the I-T searches on the Bollywood personalities, Congress Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore said, "Why (Union Finance Minister) Nirmala Sitharaman is so predictable? It's a sad story for the I-T department that it has become so one-sided and political."
National Spokesperson of Indian National Congress also tweeted on the matter saying, “It's obvious what the BJP govt is doing by raiding #AnuragKashyap & #TaapseePannu. In the past, NCB went after @deepikapadukone's manager, because Deepika spoke in support of JNU students. But when BJP leader Pamela Goswami was caught with 100gm cocaine, NCB is silent.(sic)”
Actor Swara Bhaskar and director Anubhav Sinha came out in supports of Taapsee and Anurag.
(With Inputs from IANS)
