Mumbai: Actor Sonu Sood has evaded Rs 20 crore income tax and routed his unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many fake entities, the Income Tax Department has alleged.

An I-T press release has also indicated violation in accepting and utilizing foreign contributions by the actor’s charity foundation, reports Vijay V Singh. It had collected Rs. 18.9 crore in donations from April this year and used Rs 1.9 crore towards relief work. “Rs 2.1 crore has been raised by Sood Charity Foundation from overseas donors on a crowdfunding platform in violation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010,” the release said.

Last week , I-T had conducted searches at 28 premises linked to Sood and an UP infrastructure company he had formed in a JV for a real estate project.

---------------------

Mumbai: The Income Tax department had last week conducted searches at around 28 premises connected with actor Sonu Sood.

The searches were conducted in Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jaipur, Delhi and Gurgaon and I-T officials recovered incriminating evidence pertaining to tax evasion. They also seized Rs 1.8 crore in cash and kept 11 lockers under prohibitory order. Sood was unavailable for comment over the phone.

The I-T press note stated, “Investigations so far have revealed the use of twenty 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 I-T press note stated that the infrastructure company was involved in bogus billing of subcontracting expenses and siphoning off funds. It said, “Evidence of such bogus contracts found so far are to the tune of over Rs 65 crore. Further, it has been unearthed that the infrastructure company has entered into a dubious circular transaction to the tune of Rs 175 crore with an infrastructure company based in Jaipur. Further investigations are being carried out to establish the full extent of tax evasion.”

Recently, Sood was in the news after his meeting with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, where he was declared brand ambassador of the AAP government’s ‘Desh ke mentors’ programme for guiding students in making career choices. During the lockdown, Sood had helped migrants reach their native places by arranging transportation and food.

After the I-T department initiated its searches on Wednesday, Kejriwal came out in his support, tweeting that there are many difficulties on the path of truth, but it always wins.

“With Sonu Sood ji, there are prayers of lakhs of families of India who got his support in difficult times,” he wrote.

The Shiv Sena also came out in support of Sood and linked the I-T searches with the actor’s decision to become brand ambassador for the Delhi government.