I-T raids on makers of Pushpa

Hyderabad: The Income-Tax (I-T) sleuths on Wednesday conducted raids on the offices of Mythri Movie Makers and popular filmmaker and director Sukumar regarding investments in his blockbuster movie Pushpa. Sukumar, who is co-producing Pushpa 2, cancelled the shooting which is currently on in Ramoji film city.

A team of I-T officials had come from Delhi to question the film Director and Mythri owners Naveen Yerneni and Ravi Yalamanchili. The probe went on for more than 7 hours.

Sources said separate I-T teams felt that there was a mismatch in the figures supplied by them in the past and now. They are said to have sought information regarding I-T returns in the last financial year 2022-2023 and other details including income resources. Mythri Movie Makers are currently producing Pushpa -2 with a huge budget.

Sources said that I-T officials raised doubts on financial resources provided by the film production company. The investigating team also suspected money laundering by the filmmaker. The allegation is that the company got a few hundred crores of direct investment from abroad without RBI permission. This is the second raid in less than six months. The raids are likely to continue on Thursday also.

Sukumar, best known for his hit films like Rangasthalam and Arya, is also the founder of his own production company, Sukumar Writings. His most recent project, the highly anticipated Virupaksha starring Sai Dharam Tej, is set to hit theatres on April 21.