Thursday, January 3, the Income Tax officials have conducted raids at the residence of KGF actor Yash, Kiccha Sudeep, Shiva Rajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar and many other big names from Sandalwood.
The raids started early in the morning simultaneously at 25 locations in Bengaluru and elsewhere at the offices and residences of leading actors and top producers, said by IT department sources.
According to reports, the accumulation of black money within the Kannada industry is the reason for the shocking raid. There were allegations that producers were making huge investments in films to legitimise their black money, earning large profits in the process, which too went unreported and undocumented.
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KGF chapter 1 which has the largest ever release for a Kannada film has collected over Rs 154 crore worldwide at the Box Office collections which seems to have lured the IT department. KGF star Yash’s Kathreguppe residence and Hosakerahalli office along with co-producer Vijay Kirangandur’s Nagarabhavi residence have been raided simultaneously by Income Tax department.
IT officials have also raided Puneeth Rajkumar’s Sadashiva Nagar residence and Rockline Venkatesh’s Nagapura house. They are gearing up for the release of their next biggie, Nata Sarvabhouma.
Actor-producer Shiva Rajkumar’s house in Manyata Tech Park, producer CR Manohar’s house and actor Sudeep’s residence have also been raided. CR Manohar had funded Sudeep and Shiva Rajkumar’s The Villain, one of the mega-budget movies released in 2018.
This raid has been considered as the biggest ever raid by IT department over Kannada film industry till date. Actor Yash, Sudeep and producers CR Manohar, Vijay Kirangandur and all other actors and producers who have been raided by IT department are yet to issue a statement as the verification by officials are in process.
