A major miscalculation and manipulation in income as much as Rs 650 crore has been reported b the Income-tax department on Thursday after conducting hours of search at several places linked to actor Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s properties and his associated business partners now-shuttered production house Phantom Films.
The I-T department said there is a huge suppression of income as compared to the actual box office collections.
While giving the details about the searches, the IT officials stated that the production house staff could not furnish information on the discrepancy of around ₹300 crores.
Proof relating to manipulation and under-valuation of share transactions of Phantom Films amongst the film directors and shareholders, having tax implication of about ₹350 crores, cash receipts by the leading actress amounting to ₹5 crores has also been recovered, the officials said, adding that further investigation is in progress.
The I-T searches were initiated as a probe in connection to tax evasion against the Phantom Films at 30 sites in Mumbai and Pune on Wednesday. Reliance Entertainment group CEO Shibhasish Sarkar and some executives of celebrity and talent management companies KWAN and Exceed were also raided. It is to be noted that Phantom Films was dissolved in 2018.
Taapsee and Anurag both were questioned in Pune, who are presently shooting for their upcoming film ‘Dobaaraa’.