I-T Raids Pushpa Director Sukumar, Properties Of Tollywood Production House In Hyderabad

This is the second consecutive day that searches were done at headquarters of Mythri Movie Makers for allegedly violating investment norms by bringing in funds from abroad. 

Director-Producer Sukumar

Source : @PushpaMovie/Twitter

The Income Tax (I-T) Department conducted searches on Thursday at the homes and offices of director-producer Sukumar and production company Mythri Movie Makers in Hyderabad. Sukumar directed films like Pushpa, which featured Allu Arjun, Rangasthalam and Arya.

This is the second consecutive day that searches were done at headquarters of Mythri Movie Makers for allegedly violating investment norms by bringing in funds from abroad. 

A team of I-T officials from New Delhi also conducted searches at the residences of promoters of Mythri Movie Makers, including Cherukuri Mohan, Erneni Naveen and Yalamanchili Ravishankar, in Jubilee Hills.

The production house is being probed for allegedly violating investment restrictions by bringing in funds from abroad twice in less than four months after December 2022. The production house is suspected of having directed funds from abroad and investing in Tollywood to produce several films.

The I-T raids are taking place at a time when Sukumar and the production house are engaged in the shooting of Pushap 2.

READ | 'False Propaganda': Singareni Dismisses Union Minister Kishan Reddy's 'Rs 10,000 Cr Debt' Remark

Sukumar, who founded his own production business, Sukumar Writings, is working with Mythri Movie Makers to co-produce the awaited 'Pushpa: The Rule', a sequel to the blockbuster 'Pushpa: The Rise'.

Mythri Movie Makers produced some big blockbusters like 'Pushpa', 'Srimanthudu', Janatha Garage', 'Sarkar Vari Pata', 'Dear Comrade', 'Waltair Veeraiah 'Uppena', and 'Veera Narasimha Reddy'. Mythri Movie Makers is also producing actor-politician Pawan Kalyan starrer 'Ustad Bhagat Singh'.

The production house allegedly allowed an investment of Rs 500 crore from abroad without following the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms. It also allegedly failed to disclose total investments and income sources in their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filing.

This is the second time that the offices and residences of Mythri Movie Makers have been searched by I-T officials. Previously, searches were conducted in December 2022.