Anurag Kashyap-Taapsee Pannu: IT Department Says Discrepancy Of Around Rs 300 crore Detected

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Mumbai/Pune, 4th March 2021: The Income Tax Department is carrying out search and survey operations which started on March 3 (Wednesday) on two leading film production companies, a leading actress and two Talent Management companies in Mumbai. Search operation is being carried out at Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad, the department said.

According to IT department, the group is mainly 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.

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 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.

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, the department stated in a press release.

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 under investigation.

During the search, seven bank lockers have been found which have been placed under restraint. Search is continuing in all the premises.

In the case of tax evasion, the Income Tax Department on Wednesday took a major crackdown on filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Madhu Mantena, and actress Taapsee Pannu, which continues on Thursday.

The tax evasion case is related to Phantom Films, which Anurag created with the rest of the filmmakers. Apart from this, talent management company Kwan is also on the radar of the search teams of the Income Tax Department. According to reports, Anurag and Taapsee were interrogated by the Income Tax Department teams for several hours.

On Thursday, the Income Tax Department teams arrived at the company’s Mumbai office. The Income Tax Department also raided Reliance Entertainment Group CEO Shivashish Sarkar. Transactions between them were on the income tax department’s radar and raids were conducted with the aim of collecting evidence on charges of tax evasion.

The Income Tax Department is questioning people associated with Phantom Films in the case of tax evasion. About 30 locations of Mumbai and Pune are being raided. According to Business Today’s report, teams are keeping backups of the digital evidence found. All the people are being investigated on the basis of the evidence that the teams of the IT department already have. On Wednesday, teams seized documents and electronic data from Anurag, Taapsee, Madhu and Vikas. The Income Tax Department team stayed at Anurag Kashyap’s house for about 11 hours.

The film Phantom Films was founded by Anurag in 2011 alongside Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena. The company produced films such as Lootera, Queen, Ugly, NH10, Masaan, and Udta Punjab. The company was demolished in 2018 after promoter Vikas Bahl was accused of sexual exploitation. Reliance Entertainment had bought a 50 percent share of the company. 

Anurag later formed a separate company under the name Good Bad Films, while Vikramaditya Motwane started his film production company under the name of Movement Films. The Income Tax Department raided Madhu Montena as well due to her association with Kwan. 

Anurag recently announced the film ‘Dobara’ starring Taapsee Pannu. Both of them have worked together before in the film ‘Manmarziyaan’, in which Abhishek Bachchan and Vicky Kaushal were the male leads. At the same time, Vikas Bahl is shooting ‘Ganpat Part One’ with Tiger Shroff. Anurag Kashyap and Taapsee Pannu have been very active on social media and have been expressing their views on the burning issues. Anurag Kashyap was also accused of physical harassment by a Bollywood actress, which is currently under investigation.