Actor Taapsee Pannu has broken her silence on the Income Tax raid that grilled her last week. In an exclusive interview with news agency NDTV, the actor said that she had nothing to fear and had no idea why the raids were happening. She further added that "If I have done something wrong, I will serve the punishment.”
As a public personality, I am prepared to face such things, but this came as a surprise for my family, Pannu said.
She further said that “I am perfectly okay with it because when you have not really done anything wrong, I don’t know what or why should I fear?” As a public figure, we have to pay for things and if there is a human error, I will pay for it or whatever I am supposed to do, Pannu added. She said that she is not a criminal and has done anything illegal. "So, I am not scared of the consequences," she said.
Taapsee said that she and her family had cooperated with the procedure and it was the media that connected everything and said the ₹ 5 crore receipts could have been hers, even though the tax department did not say that this was found at her house.
Describing the raids as intimidating in the beginning, Pannu said, "I was wondering who is giving me ₹ 5 crores. There were stories of me having a bungalow in Paris. I answered all the questions asked by the Income Tax officers. My family and I cooperated with the IT department.”
"If there is anything wrong it will come out, I can't hide anything. If I have done something wrong, I will serve the punishment."
Properties of Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap were searched intensively by the income tax department in March across 30 locations which went on for three days. Kashyaps’ Phantom Films production house partners were also under the scanner. The raids were initiated as a part of a tax evasion probe against all these people, including Reliance Entertainment group CEO Shibhasish Sarkar and some executives of celebrity and talent management companies KWAN and Exceed.
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Asked why she thought the raids took place, she said: "There is no way to confirm why I was raided. When IT raids happened, there is no option but to follow the procedure."
Reacting to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's comments on the raids, Taapsee said that she was not raided in 2013 and it needs to be corrected. "It was nice of the Finance Minister to say that it's a procedure, don't sensationalise it,” Pannu added.
On being asked about the raids, Sitharaman last week said that why such outcry, such raids were also done in 2013, but no issue was made out then as being done now.