Trouble for Sonu Sood! I-T dept says Sood involved in ₹20 crore tax evasion; FCRA violation

New Delhi, September 18: After conducting the raids on places linked to Bollywood actor Sonu Sood for three days in a row, the Income Tax department said on Saturday that tax evasion worth ₹20 crores by Sood and his associates have been unearthed so far apart from Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations.

 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement that, “During a search at the premises of the actor and his associates, incriminating evidence pertaining to tax evasion was found. The main modus operandi followed by the actor had been to route his unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many bogus entities.”

 

It said the modus operandi followed by Sonu Sood was to route his unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many fake entities. The department also informed that the agency has conducted a search and seizure operation at various premises of actor Sonu Sood Mumbai and also a Lucknow-based group of industries engaged in infrastructure development. It revealed that 28 premises in Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jaipur, Delhi, Gurugram have been searched by the CBDT team so far.

 

“Investigations so far have revealed 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.

 

It added that the total amount of tax evaded unearthed so far, amounts to more than ₹20 crores. Subsequently, the IT department has found foreign funds violations in actor’s Sood Charity Foundation, incorporated on July 21 last year when Covid-19 was at its peak and he was involved in a lot of relief work, particularly sending migrant workers to their homes.

 

 

The CBDT said that the foundation has collected donations worth ₹18.94 crores from April 1, 2021, till date, out of which it has spent around ₹1.9 crores towards various relief work while the balance of ₹17 crores has been found lying unutilized in the bank account of the foundation. “It is seen that funds to the tune of ₹2.1 crores have also been raised by the charity foundation from overseas donors on a crowdfunding platform in violation of (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) FCRA regulations,” the CBDT statement added.

 

The department also said that cash of Rs 1.8 crore has been seized during the searches and 11 lockers have been placed under prohibitory order. A real estate deal and some other financial transactions linked to Sood are under the scanner of the department.

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