I-T raids uncover Rs 109 crore income not accounted for

BENGALURU: The searches and raids at the premises of prominent Sandalwood actors as well other members of the industry resulted in an admission of unaccounted income of around Rs 109 crore by some of those raided, according to the Income Tax department.

The searches had also resulted in the seizure of undisclosed assets valued at Rs 11 crore including cash of Rs 2.85 crore and gold jewellery weighing 25.3 kg, says a statement released by the department on Sunday. “When presented with the evidence, the persons involved admitted to unaccounted income of around Rs 109 crore,” the statement said.

The searches, which began on January 3 and ended on January 5, were conducted at 21 premises and surveys were undertaken at 5 places.

Actors Puneeth Rajkumar, Shivarajkumar, Sudeep and Yash were among those whose premises were searched. The I-T department also trained its lens on film production companies, producers and financiers.
The department said that it had unearthed evidence of unaccounted professional receipts by artistes, cash investments in properties and jewellery through unaccounted for income.

The statement said, “Evidence has also been found of suppression of income from sale of audio, digital and satellite rights, unaccounted cash receipts from distributors, and of expenses from undisclosed and unaccounted sources.” Around 180 officers took part in the operations and were brought in from several offices in the Karnataka and Goa region.

The IT sleuths also discovered evidence of suppression of income from film production, distribution and exhibition as well as unaccounted cash expenditure in films. “In particular evidence of unaccounted theatre collections in cash and consequential evasion of taxes has been found,” the statement said.

“There are many issues on which evidence has been found but no admission has been made: the detection of concealed income will be a much higher figure,” the statement said. The department will also forward evidence collected to other revenue and enforcement agencies to help them deal with issues like diversion of cash collected by theatres.

The Investigation wing will now launch some prosecution cases for tax evasion and the statement said that it would be done ‘at a very early date’.