The Income Tax department said in a statement that actor Sonu Sood has evaded taxes of over Rs 20 crore, as per a report by NDTV. IT department officials had visited Sood's house for three days and searches were conducted at six places linked to him.
As per the report, the IT department also said that Sood's non-profit also raised Rs 2.1 crore from overseas donors using a crowdfunding platform. It stated that this was in violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act that governs such transactions.
"While conducting searches of places linked to Sonu Sood and his associates, evidence pertaining to tax evasion have been found. Sood's modus operandi was to route his unaccounted income in the form of bogus, unsecured loans from bogus entities", the Income Tax department reportedly stated.
"Use of 20 such entries have been revealed during investigations. The providers, under oath, have accepted to have given bogus entries. They accepted to have issued cheques in lieu of cash. There have also been instances where professional receipts have been camouflaged as loans in the books of accounts for the purpose of evading tax. It was also revealed that the bogus loans have been used for making investments and acquiring properties. So far, we have unearthed that the amount of tax evaded comes to over Rs 20 crore", the statement, reported by NDTV, read.
As per allegations against Sonu Sood, his Sood Charity Foundation, set up during the pandemic last year, collected donations of over Rs 18 crore till April this year. It has been alleged that Rs 1.9 crore has been spent on relief work, and Rs 17 crore is lying unused in the Foundation's bank account.
Sonu Sood is yet to respond to these allegations.
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