The ED officials quizzed Puri Jagannadh and Charmme Kaur — who produced Liger with the likes of Karan Johar — about the film's funding.
Telugu filmmaker Puri Jagannadh. (Supplied)
Director Puri Jagannadh and actor Charmme Kaur faced a volley of questions from the sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, 16 November.
The ED officials were reportedly seeking to pinpoint the source of the funds that had gone into the making of the Telugu film Liger, which bombed at the Box Office in August.
The officials summoned Puri and Kaur — who produced the film along with the likes of Karan Johar and his mother Hiroo Yash Johar — to come armed with the details of the financiers of the film.
Puri Jagannadh also directed the film.
The officials had inputs that some persons had routed money into the making of the film by first sending it to Dubai and from there back to India for investment into the film.
This is being described as a clear case of violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) of 1999.
According to sources, the two film personalities were asked to name the companies or the individuals who financed the movie, and their current location.
The idea, the sources said, was to ascertain if the funds came into India from abroad and whether the transactions were in violation of FEMA.
The ED, which had inputs that the money might have flowed into the film from some companies abroad, wanted answers from the duo as to how their bank accounts received huge amounts.
There were also allegations that even politicians invested money in the film, and there were others who tried to use the making of the film as a convenient method to convert their black money into white.
The sources said the ED sleuths grilled them for 12 hours at a stretch.
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