I-T searches on actors, producers come to close

The Income Tax department concluded a major part of searches at the premises of actors and producers of Sadalwood on Saturday.

However, according to a senior official from the IT Department, searches were still on three premises till late Saturday night.

The raids started on Thursday morning on around 28-30 premises.

The Income Tax sleuths took scanned copies of the documents from the premises raided. Sources said that the actors and producers will be issued notices after verification of the documents.

The raids were conducted on the premises belonging to actors Shivrajkumar, Puneet Rajkumar, Sudeep, Yash, producers Rockline Venkatesh, C R Manohar, Vijay Kiragandhur and Jayanna.

The searches were concluded on most of the premises by Saturday evening. Puneet Rajkumar spoke to media persons after the team left his house.

“The Income Tax officials have been professional in their duty.

“We also co-operated with them and as a responsible citizen I will continue to co-operate with the Income Tax in the coming days. Naturally, investigation will take some time,’’ he said.

‘Aimed at producers’

Speaking to media after the Income Tax sleuths’ team left his house in Hosakerehalli,
actor Yash said that the searches were aimed at the producers.

“It looked to me that Income Tax officials were specific about the finances of producer Vijay Kiragandhur. It is not proper to say that finances involving KGF movie was the only reason. The producers also are into other businesses,’’ he said.

Sources said that in three premises, however searches continued till Saturday night. “The searches are over except in 2-3 premises. The investigation will take place after verifying the documents,’’ an official said.