Tapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap break their silence on I-T raids

MUMBAI: Actor Taapsee Pannu tweeted for the first time after the Income Tax department conducted raids connected to her and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and the production house Phantom Films. The raids started on 3 March.

Pannu’s properties were raided by Income Tax officials on Saturday. The actress denied allegations of tax evasion. She said that the three days of “intense search” were primarily for three things. “1. The keys of the ‘alleged’ bungalow that I apparently own in Paris. Because summer holidays are around the corner,” she wrote on social media. She also went on to say, “The ‘alleged’ receipt worth 5 crores to frame n [and] keep for future pitching coz [because] I’ve been refused that money before.”

Pannu also denied Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s claims that her house was raided in 2013 as well. She also added “not so sasti anymore”, referring to a comment by actor Kangana Ranaut’s sister Rangoli Chandel, who had once said that Pannu was a “cheap rip off”.

“And we restart #DoBaaraa .. with all our love to all the haters,” Anurag Kashyap posted on his social media directly mentioning the I-T raids.

Tapsee’s reaction came two days after the Income Tax department found large illegal transactions and suppression of income, worth about Rs 650 crore, by her and director Anurag Kashyap, after conducting searches at properties linked to the Bollywood personalities in Mumbai and Pune.

The business transactions of films made under the banner of Phantom Films are being probed. The actress and the director, who worked together in the 2018 film “Manmarziyaan”, are working together again on a thriller.