Rs 1.65 cr cash, FDs seized from Punjabi singers, producers

The IT sleuths have also collected documents pertaining to property and bank accounts into their custody which will be scrutinised to unearth undisclosed income generated by singers and producers, a senior official of IT department said today.

"We have seized Rs 1 crore cash and FDs of Rs 60-65 lakh during search operation carried out at the offices and residences of Punjabi singers and producers in the state yesterday," Income Tax, Director-Investigation (Ludhiana), H S Sohi told PTI.

The department has also sealed 19 bank lockers of the raided persons.

IT sleuths raided premises of Punjabi singers including Gippy Grewal, Diljit Dosanjh and Miss Pooja which were spread across Ludhiana, Mohali, Rajpura and Jalandhar. The IT team also raided locations of two Punjabi film producing Companies- Speed Records and Batra Films.

During the investigation, IT officials found that a few of these singers and producers had filed an income of less than Rs 4 lakh in their Income Tax returns. "They (Punjabi singers and film producers) have shown very nominal income in (their) tax returns," Sohi said.

IT department had kept a watch on these persons since past 3-4 months after it was suspected that the way the entertainment industry particularly Punjabi movie and music industry has grown in past few years, the tax profile of these singers and producers did not go up correspondingly.

Singer-cum-actor Gippy Grewal has acted in Punjabi comedy