I-T raids on Taapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl
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The Income-Tax Department on Wednesday performed searches on at the least 30 areas linked to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, producer Vikas Bahl, producer-distributor Madhu Mantena and actor Taapsee Pannu in Mumbai and Pune.
The motion, based on an company official, was a part of a tax evasion probe in opposition to Phantom Films launched by Mr. Kashyap however dissolved in 2018. Mr. Bahl and Mr. Mantena are additionally the co-promoters of Phantom Films.
It is learnt that Mr. Kashyap and Ms. Pannu have been in Pune on the time of the searches. The I-T Department can be prone to contact sure auditors for cross-checking particulars. Sources mentioned some inter-linked transactions between the entities searched have been below the scanner of the Department and the raids have been aimed toward gathering extra proof into allegations of tax evasion.
‘Suppressing dissent’
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) mentioned that the raids are an try to suppress voices of dissent in opposition to the Central authorities.
“Central agencies are being used to take action against those who take an anti-government stand and speak against its policies, be it ED (Enforcement Directorate), CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) or I-T (Income-Tax). Both Kashyap and Pannu have voiced their opposition to certain government policies in the past. It is no coincidence that only they have been raided,” mentioned Nawab Malik, Maharashtra’s Minority Affairs Minister and Mumbai unit president of the NCP.
Maharashtra Congress president and MLA Nana Patole, too, criticised the Centre for selectively concentrating on celebrities.
“We have seen in many instances that those who speak against the government are subjected to action by Central agencies. The government thinks that such tactics will scare people. We will not let such things to happen in a democracy,” mentioned Mr. Patole.
Maharashtra’s PWD Minister Ashok Chavan advised reporters, “This is not new. We have been seeing this happening often. Those who put forth facts are being pressurised in this way so that they don’t speak up.”
(With inputs from PTI, and Alok Deshpande in Mumbai)
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