After conducting search at Sonu Sood’s Mumbai home for three consecutive days, the Income Tax department on Saturday informed that the Bollywood actor has evaded taxes to the tune of over Rs 20 crore.
The total amount of tax evaded unearthed so far, amounts to more than Rs 20 crore, informed Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
CBDT informed that during the course of searches at the premises of the actor and his associates, incriminating evidence pertaining 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 fictitious entities, reported ANI.
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Meanwhile, people are wondering why the actor, who dedicatedly worked and turned saviour for people during the Covid pandemic, came under the IT scanner.
During the pandemic, Sonu Sood was hailed as the ‘messiah’ of migrant workers for all that he did for them during their hard times in the last one year. What went wrong then?
If reports are to be believed, the searches are on account of a complaint of alleged tax evasion in connection with a deal between a firm owned by Sood and a Lucknow-based real estate firm.
The raids have also been politicised with several leaders alleging that the raids are the result of Sood's meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal where he was declared ambassador for Delhi government's mentorship programme for school students in the national capital.
Though the Shiv Sena and the Aam Aadmi Party pointed fingers at the BJP questioning the timing of the searches, the latter denied any link between Sood's tie-up with AAP and the searches.
On the other hand, it is alleged that the actor’s non-profit ‘Sood Charity Foundation’, which was set up in July last year, collected donations of over Rs 18 crore till April this year. And, out of the total amount, only Rs 1.9 crore has been spent on relief works and the remaining balance (Rs 17 crore) is lying unused in the non-profit's bank account.