Department says it seized documents and digital evidence relating to unaccounted cash transactions and investments during the searches.
Published Aug 06, 2022 | 9:22 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 06, 2022 | 9:22 PM
Anbu Chezhiyan's Gopuram Cinemas office in Chennai, where IT raids were carried out on 2 August. (South First)
The Income Tax department has said it has detected undisclosed income exceeding ₹200 crore during the search operations that were carried out from 2 August at 40 properties in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Vellore linked to financiers, producers and distributors in the Tamil film industry.
In addition, ₹26 crore in undisclosed cash and unaccounted gold jewelry exceeding ₹3 crore were also seized, the department said.
Kollywood’s top financier-cum-producer Anbu Chezhiyan, SR Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures, Kalaipuli S Thaanu of V Creations, and Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green were among those who were under the scanner of the IT department.
The department said in a press note on Saturday, 6 August, that several incriminating documents and digital evidence were seized during the search operations which related to unaccounted cash transactions and investments.
In the cases of film production houses, evidence unearthed by the IT department revealed tax evasion.
“The actual amounts realised from the release of the films are much more than the amounts shown in regular books of accounts. The unaccounted income so generated by them is deployed for undisclosed investments as well as various undisclosed payments,” claimed the IT department.
The tax body stated that it found documents like promissory notes, etc., relating to unaccounted cash loans, which were advanced to various film production houses and others.
Further, according to the IT department, the evidence seized in the case of film distributors indicated collection of unaccounted cash from the theatres.
“As per the evidences, the distributors have formed syndicates and have systematically suppressed the theatre collections, resulting in the suppression of actual income,” it said.
“Further investigations in the case are in progress,” the IT department added.
This is the second time in two years that Chezhiyan has been searched by the IT department.
In February 2020, soon after the release of the Tamil film Bigil, starring popular actor Vijay, the IT department launched an investigation into suspected tax evasion by Chezhiyan and others.
Properties connected to him, actor Vijay, the AGS group and others were searched at that point. The common thread connecting all of them was the success of Bigil at the box office.
Though no recovery was made from actor Vijay during those raids, a press release dated 6 February, 2020, from the Central Board of Direct Taxes said that the “highlight of the searches” was the seizure of “unaccounted cash of about ₹77 crore from hideouts and secret places purportedly belonging to the financier (Anbu Chezhiyan)”.
A large number of property documents, promissory notes, and post-dated cheques taken as collateral security were also recovered during the February 2020 searches on Chezhiyan, according to the IT department, which also said the income concealment by Chezhiyan was likely to exceed ₹300 crore.
