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The Income Tax Department has searched the office premises of several food and beverage companies in Mumbai, including one linked to actress Shilpa Shetty, on charges of tax evasion, official sources said on Thursday.
He said raids are being conducted at around 20-24 premises in and around Mumbai since Wednesday after the department received “actionable” inputs against some companies in the sector who are accused of carrying out “off the books” or cash transactions.
Sources said the searches included some office premises of a restaurant co-owned by Shetty and some others. He denied that his Mumbai home was being raided by tax officials.
Tax officials said the I-T probe was neither linked to the Maharashtra Police FIR against Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra (on fraud charges) nor to the FIR lodged by the Bengaluru Police against a local restaurant for operating beyond legal working hours.
The Bengaluru restaurant is said to be co-owned by Shetty.
On Wednesday, the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police filed charges of fraud besides criminal breach of trust against the high-profile couple.
According to an official, a case was first registered against the celebrity couple under IPC section 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and after investigation, section 420 (fraudulent and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) has been added.
However, Shetty and her husband issued a statement on social media strongly denying the allegations against them and said that they have “fully cooperated” in the investigation and are optimistic.
He said that justice will prevail and he has full faith in the law enforcement authorities and the judicial system of the country.
“We categorically deny the baseless and motivated allegations being circulated. The issues sought to be raised are being criminalized without any legal basis,” he said in a post.
“A quashing petition has already been filed before the Honorable High Court and the decision is pending. Having fully cooperated in the investigation, we are confident that justice will be served and we have full confidence in the law enforcement authorities and the Indian Judiciary. We respectfully urge the media to exercise restraint as the matter is sub-judice.” Kundra further said.
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