Actor Sonu Sood, Aides Evaded Tax Worth Over ₹20 Cr, Says I-T Dept

The Income Tax department on Saturday said actor Sonu Sood and his associates had evaded tax worth over ₹20 crore.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said during the course of search on the premises of the Bollywood actor and his aides, incriminating evidence related to tax evasion was found.

“The main modus operandi followed by the actor had been to route his unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many bogus entities,” a tax department official was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The I-T department conducted a search and seizure operation on several premises of the actor in Mumbai and also a Lucknow-based group of industries engaged in infrastructure development.

As many as 28 premises in Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jaipur, Delhi, Gurugram were searched during the operation, the CBDT said.

The department had initiated its action against the actor on Wednesday following which searches were extended to people linked to him.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiv Sena have hit out at the Centre for the action and alleged the Bollywood star, who had been involved in multiple welfare work ever since the coronavirus-induced lockdown was imposed, was being targeted.

His humanitarian activities, which started with arranging transport for migrant workers during the pandemic, got him national and international recognition.

Sood recently become an ambassador of the AAP’s mentorship programme meant for students. Tweeting in his support, AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said Sood had the prayers of lakhs of families that he supported in difficult times.

The Sena said once the BJP used to praise Sood, but now it thought he was a tax evader after the Delhi and Punjab governments tried to join hands with him.