E-Paper
Is it some coincidence?: Kangana's reaction to I-T raid on Anurag, Taapsee
These are small players, the actor tweeted on Friday after the income tax department claimed of finding financial irregularities of over ₹650 crore.
A day after income tax officials disclosed that some discrepancies and manipulations were found during their raids on properties of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, actor Taapsee Pannu and others linked with now-dissolved Phantom Films, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut pointed out that many of these names were linked with 'Me Too' movement earlier. "Is it a coincidence that each and every stakeholder of Phantom n Kwan has been accused by multiple women of rape, molestation n harassment?" the actor tweeted on Friday.
Phantom was dissolved in 2018 after co-founder Vikas Bahl was accused of sexual harassment. Exceed's co-founder Afsar Zaidi and Kwan founder Anirban Blah were accused of similar charges in 2018.
Quoting an article on the initial findings of the I-T teams, which claimed that mobile phone data of Anurag and Taapsee have been deleted, Kangana said data can be retrieved. "But these are small players. One can only imagine how deep-rooted is terrorism in the film industry," the actor said adding that the government should set a good example for everyone.
"Money laundering numbers and involvement of stakeholders can be shocking. I had my suspicions when I saw them provoke migrant labourers with some high budget anti-India animation advertisements," the actor wrote.
After two-day searches at various properties linked with the production company in Mumbai and Pune, the I-T department on Thursday said it detected financial irregularities of over ₹650 crore. In its findings, however, the names of the Bollywood personalities were not mentioned.
“Evidence of huge suppression of income by the leading film production house compared to the actual box office collections has been unearthed," the statement from CBDT, the administrative body of the IT Department, said adding that the officials of the company have not been able to explain the discrepancy.
It also recovered evidence of cash receipts amounting to ₹5 crore by "the leading actress", the statement said, without naming Taapsee Pannu.
"Non-genuine or bogus expenditure" to related concerns by the leading producers and directors having tax implication of about ₹20 crore has been detected, the statement said. A total of seven bank lockers were found and placed under restraint.
