New Delhi: A day after income tax officials “surveyed” offices related to actor Sonu Sood, taxmen arrived at his house in Mumbai’s Juhu on Thursday, September 16, to investigate a property deal he carried out with a Lucknow-based real estate company, reports have indicated.
The investigation being carried out at his home is based on allegations of tax evasion and the fact that the property deal concerned came under the scanner, NDTV quoted a source, associated with the investigation, as saying.
IT raids (or the “surveys” as the authorities put it) are being seen as part of a witch-hunt campaign against the actor for the kind of help he had rendered to several migrant workers during the COVID-induced lockdown in March 2020 and earned him the tag of “messiah of migrants”. He had booked flights and hired buses to ferry migrants to their villages and towns after they were stranded in various cities and took to walking hundreds of kilometres during the 2020 lockdown.
On the other hand, these raids/”surveys” come days after the Delhi government had declared him as the brand ambassador for a “Desh ka Mentors” programme for school students. He had also recently met Arvind Kejriwal triggering speculation that he might be fielded as a candidate in the next assembly elections in Punjab, although he denied any such plans.
Sood’s philanthropic work was not just confined to migrant workers, but he also lent a helping hand to several people from across the country after they reached out to him for help through social media. He has recently also started a charity organisation to reach out to more people in the future. Despite receiving plaudits from politicians and parties of various hues for his charity, he has always maintained that his philanthropic work is nothing to do with politics.
Meanwhile, the BJP-led Union government has earned the disrepute of targeting opposition leaders and anyone critical of the government by using government agencies such as CBI, NIA and ED, along with the Income Tax department.