‘Over Rs 200-crore’ detected in I-T raids on TN film producers, financiers

The searches were launched on August 2 and about 40 premises of the entities, which have not been identified, were covered in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Vellore. So far, the search operation has resulted in the detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 200 crore, the CBDT said.  

The CBDT said on Saturday that the income-tax authority had searched several film makers, distributors, and financiers in Tamil Nadu and found "undisclosed" income of more than Rs 200 crore. The searches began on August 2 and spanned 40 locations in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, and Vellore belonging to the unnamed businesses.

During the raids, the department claimed to have confiscated "undisclosed" cash of Rs 26 crore and gold jewellery worth more than Rs 3 crore. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced in a statement that the search operation has so far led to the discovery of undeclared revenue totaling more than Rs 200 crore.

According to the report, the department discovered "secret and concealed" premises while also seizing a number of papers and digital devices related to "unaccounted" monetary transactions and investments.

According to the report, tax fraud has been discovered in the case of film production companies since the sums really realised from the distribution of the films were significantly more than those shown in the normal books of accounts. The unexplained revenue that they have produced in this way has been used for both hidden investments and payments, according to the CBDT.

The Board is in charge of running the department. According to the statement, papers that were confiscated in the case of movie distributors show that "unaccounted cash" was taken from theatres. It claimed that "according to the evidence, the distributors have organised into syndicates and have purposefully lowered the theatrical collections, hence suppressing genuine income." According to the CBDT, the search operation has so far led to the discovery of more than Rs 200 crore in unreported revenue.

(With PTI inputs)