This is the second time in two years that the IT department is searching the properties of the Kollywood financier-cum-producer.
Published Aug 02, 2022 | 2:37 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 02, 2022 | 2:44 PM
Anbu Chezhiyan's Gopuram Cinemas office in Chennai, where IT raids were carried out on 2 August. (South First)
Early on Tuesday, 2 August, officials of the Income Tax department swooped down on as many as 40 locations across Tamil Nadu linked to prominent Kollywood film financiers and producers. Ten of the locations being raided are in Chennai.
According to sources, the primary target is top financier-cum-producer Anbu Chezhiyan, who has bankrolled several Tamil films, including many big-budget movies with top stars in the industry.
Searches are also on at properties associated with SR Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures, Kalaipuli S Thaanu of V Creations, and Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green, among others.
This is the second time in two years that Chezhiyan has been raided 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 grand 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 Rs 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 Rs 300 crore.
According to reports, in March 2022, based on the documents that were seized from Chezhiyan, several top producers in the Tamil film industry, who had business transactions with him, were issued notices by the Income Tax department, seeking details of their financial dealings with Chezhiyan.
