Time will tell my side of story: Sonu Sood tweets amid I-T raids

The department carried out marathon searches at the actor’s premises for three consecutive days last week, suspecting huge tax evasion

“You don’t have to always tell your side of the story. Time will,” actor Sonu Sood tweeted against the backdrop of the income tax raids at his premises and the department’s claim that the actor and his associates were involved ₹20 crore tax evasion and violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) while raising funds from abroad.

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood. (File photo)

The department carried out marathon searches at the actor’s premises for three consecutive days last week, suspecting huge tax evasion.

On Monday, the actor posted in Hindi from his Twitter handle, “Sakht Rahon me bhi asaan safar lagta hai, Har Hindustani ki duaaon ka asar lagta hai (It must be the blessings of every Indian that the journey seems easy even in tough times).”

Another of his post reads, “You don’t always have to tell your side of the story. Time will. I have pledged myself to the service of the people of India with all my strength and heart. Every rupee in my foundation is awaiting its turn to save a precious life and reach the needy. In addition, on many occasions, I have encouraged brands to donate my endorsement fees for humanitarian causes too, which keeps us going.

Also Watch | ₹20 crore tax evasion by Sonu Sood & associates: Income Tax Dept’s charge

I have been busy attending to a few guests hence was unable to be at your service, for the last 4 days. Here I am back again in all humility. At your humble service, for life. My journey continues... Sonu Sood.”

In just two hours, the tweet got 22,000 likes and about 4,300 users retweeted it. The actor has 9.3million followers on Twitter. He has posted a similar statement on his Instagram and Facebook accounts where he has 13.7mililion and 18million followers respectively. On Instagram, his post was liked by 380,000 users, while on Facebook his post received over 43,000 likes by 12noon.

The actor and his charity works were praised nationally after he arranged free transport through rail, air and road for migrant workers trying to reach their home states during the nationwide lockdown last year to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sood recently became an ambassador of AAP’s mentorship programme meant for students.

The I-T department, since September 16, has raided 28 premises belonging to Sood, his foundation, associates and a Lucknow-based real estate group in Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi, Kanpur, Jaipur and Gurugram, during which they allegedly found incriminating evidence pertaining to tax evasion. The agency has claimed that Sood routed his “unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many bogus entities”.

“Investigations so far have revealed the use of 20 such entries, the providers of which, on examination, have accepted on oath to have given bogus accommodation entries. They have accepted to have issued cheques in lieu of cash. There have been instances where professional receipts have been camouflaged as loans in the books of accounts for the purpose of evasion of tax. It has also been revealed that these bogus loans have been used for making investments and acquiring properties,” the CBDT said in a statement, adding that total tax evasion amounts to more than ₹20 crore, so far.

Subsequently, the I-T department also alleged violation of the FCRA by the Sood Charity Foundation, a non-profit charity organisation established during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak last year.

According to the department, Sood’s organisation collected donations worth ₹18.94 crore since April 1, 2021. Of this, around ₹1.9 crore has been spent so far on various relief work, while the remaining ₹17 crore is lying unutilised in the bank account of the foundation, it added.

“It is seen that funds to the tune of ₹2.1 crore have also been raised by the charity foundation from overseas donors on a crowdfunding platform in violation of FCRA regulations,” the CBDT statement said.

AAP leaders, including Delhi CM Kejriwal, too have tweeted in support of the 48-year-old actor. Shiv Sena has also supported the actor.