CHENNAI, AUG 2
More than 40 locations across Tamil Nadu were searched by the Income Tax Department on Tuesday over suspected tax evasion by some Tamil film producers and distributors, officials have said. The raids were conducted at the properties linked to about 10 Tamil film producers and distributors, including Kalaipuli Thanu, SR Prabhu, Anbu Chezhiyan and Gnanavel Raja, officials added.
The IT dept conducted raids at properties related to movie producer Anbu Chezliyanin at over 10 places, including in Chennai and Madurai.
Moreover, raids were also reportedly carried out on other movie producers.
The other producers apart from Anbu Chezliyan include Producer SR Prabhu and Thaanu, according to sources.
According to sources, the raids from the IT sleuths have been conducted at over 40 locations since 5 am, including in the area of Nungambakkam Kamthar Nagar, where the well-known movie producer Chezhiyan lives. Notably, just five months ago, Chezhiyan’s daughter got married and celebrities from across India attended the grand wedding. Personalities like Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Suriya to Boney Kapoor were present at the venue. Many politicians also graced the occasion.
Chezhiyan, a native of Madurai is a well-known movie financier in the Tamil film industry and received public attention in 2020 during the IT heat on the stakeholders related to the movie ‘Bigil’, which was released in 2019. The IT department had then conducted raids on personalities linked to the ‘Bigil’ movie, including actor Vijay and AGS production house.
Two years later, the Income Tax department has now raided multiple locations of Anbu Chezhiyan.
