The Income Tax department in Tamil Nadu Madurai region continued to raid more than 20 places owned by well-known financier and Tamil Film Producer Anbu Chezhiyan for the second day on Wednesday.
According to the sources, the I-T sleuths had been carrying out raids at 40 places including Chennai and Madurai since 5 am on Tuesday.
At Chennai, a team of sleuths reportedly raided a location in the Nungambakkam Kamthar Nagar area where Cheziyan is known to live.
The raids came five months after the grand wedding of Chezhiyan’s daughter in Chennai which was graced by various celebrities from across India.
Personalities ranging from Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, and Suriya to Boney Kapoor were all present at the venue.
Many politicians also attended the wedding. Chezhiyan, who is a native of Madurai, is a very influential and top financier in the Tamil film industry.
He received public attention in 2017 when Ashok Kumar, cousin of director Sasikumar, died by suicide with a note alleging mental torture and trauma over financial issues by Chezhiyan.
After this, Chezhiyan got public attention in 2020 when I-T raids were carried out on personalities linked to the movie “Bigil” which was released in 2019.
At that time, the entire crew of the movie came under the I-T scanner which included raids on Actor Vijay and AGS Production house.
The Income Tax Department has now raided multiple locations linked to the powerful film producer after two years.
Along with Chezhiyan Properties belonging to eight producers were searched.
Those under the radar include producer and distributor Kalaipuli S. Thanu, S.R. Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures and producer K.E. Gananvel Raja,” said a source in the Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing.
S.R. Prabhu’s office at Teynampet and T. Nagar in Chennai were searched along with his other properties. In T. Nagar, Thanu’s offices were searched.
A senior officer who was at the house of one of the producers, said, “We found ₹13 crore in unaccounted-for cash. But we are yet to verify the documents that have been given by the assessee for the same.”
The searches went on till late evening on Tuesday and will continue for the next two days.The Income Tax department in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai continued to raid more than 20 places owned by well-known financier and Tamil Film Producer Anbu Chezhiyan for the second day on Wednesday.
