Actor Sonu Sood responded in a tweet to the tax raids. (File)
New Delhi/ Mumbai:
Actor Sonu Sood, breaking his silence on tax raids at his Mumbai residence and places of work final week and allegations of tax evasion, mentioned at this time that “every rupee” in his basis was “awaiting its turn to save a life.” He additionally took a swipe on the Income Tax division, commenting that he had been “busy attending to guests” for 4 days.
“You don’t always have to tell your side of the story. Time will,” the actor mentioned in an announcement he tweeted together with a couplet in Hindu, loosely translated as – “even the most difficult path can seem easy with the goodwill of every Indian.”
The 48-year-old actor, whose philanthropic efforts in the course of the Covid disaster received enormous reward, was raided for 4 days in a row by the Income Tax division, which alleges that he evaded taxes price over Rs 20 crore.
“Every rupee in my foundation is awaiting its turn to save a precious life and reach the needy. In addition, on many occasions, I have encouraged brands to donate my endorsement fees for humanitarian causes too, which keeps us going,” the actor wrote.
“सख्त राहों में भी आसान सफर लगता है,
हर हिंदुस्तानी की दुआओं का असर लगता है” ???? pic.twitter.com/0HRhnpf0sY— sonu sood (@SonuSood) September 20, 2021
“I have been busy attending to a few guests hence was unable to be at your service for the last four days. Here I am back again in all humility. At your humble service, for life.”
The ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have questioned the timing of the Income Tax searches and have linked them to his latest tie-up with AAP for an schooling mentorship programme.
Responding to the actor’s assertion, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “More power to you Sonu ji. You are a hero to millions of Indians.”
More energy to u Sonu ji. U are a hero to hundreds of thousands of Indians https://t.co/TACjG8ugOP
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 20, 2021
The tax raids have been launched to research a deal between Sonu Sood’s firm and a Lucknow-based actual property agency, based on sources.
Later, the tax department put out a statement, saying Sonu Sood’s non-profit Sood Charity Foundation arrange in July final yr collected donations of over ~CHECK~ 18 crore until April this yr, out of which Rs 1.9 crore has been spent on aid work and Rs 17 crore has been mendacity unused. It additionally mentioned the organisation raised Rs 2.1 crore from abroad donors utilizing a crowdfunding platform in violation of the regulation.
“The main modus operandi followed by the actor had been to route his unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many bogus entities,” the tax division mentioned within the assertion.