Income Tax officials are conducting raids at the houses of Kannada actors and producers. While Puneet Rajkumar and Yash are the actors to have come under the scanner of the IT officials, Rockline Venkatesh, Vijay Kiragandur and CR Manohar are the producers being raided.
According to IB Times, the raids began early in the morning at Puneeth Rajkumar’s Sadashiva Nagar residence, Rockline Venkatesh’s Nagapura house and Vijay Kiragandur’s Nagarbhavi House.
Vijay Kiragandur is the producer of the recently released Kolar Gold Fields (KGF). Starring Yash in the lead, KGF in a period action film directed by Prashanth Neel. Released in five languages on December 21, the film has gone on to become a huge hit and is touted to become the highest grossing Kannada movie. The Hindi version of the movie has been distributed by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Shidwani under the banner of their Excel Films.
Also an actor, Rockline Venkatesh primarily produces films under his banner Rockline Films. He was one of the co-producers on Salman Khan’s 2015 film Bajrangi Bhaijaan which at the time became one of the highest grossing Hindi movies and also won the National Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. He has also produced the Rajinikanth starrer Lingaa and Vikram starrer Majaa in Tamil, Manassu Malligey – the Kannada remake of the 2016 Marathi film Sairat and the Malayalam film Villain starring Mohanlal and Vishal.
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There have been instances in the past when the IT department had come down upon film and TV stars in Kannada. According to a report, the IT sleuths conducted raids on the houses of Ravikiran, Sihi Kahi Chandru and K Manju in June 2011.
The Telugu actors had faced the wrath of authorities recently. Mahesh Babu’s accounts were attached by the GST officials while Prabhas’ guest house in Telangana was seized by the revenue officials.