₹77 crore 'unaccounted' cash seized from Vijay-starrer Bigil financier

The Income Tax (I-T) sleuths seized over ₹77 crore unaccounted cash from the ‘hideouts and secret places’ in Tamil Nadu owned by Anbu Cheliyan, who financed Vijay-starrer Bigil.

The I-T department officials, in a release, estimated the concealment to exceed ₹300 crore.

Apart from seizing unaccounted cash, I-T officials have also recovered a large number of property documents, promissory notes, and post-dated cheques taken as collateral security.

I-T officials have recovered all the original documents belonging to the distributor from the house of his friend which was used as a ‘hideout’ and scrutiny of the evidence was under process.

Also read | ₹24 crore seized from the residence of Vijay-starrer Bigil’s producer

Since Wednesday (February 5) morning, the I-T sleuths have been raiding the premises of Cheliyan, production concern AGS entertainment, actor Vijay and few distributors.

According to a release from the I-T department, the common thread among all these entities was the success of Bigil which collected ₹300 crores at the box office.The raids in Vijay’s residence have been on for over 12 hours.

He was questioned for several hours. According to the I-T officials, Vijay is believed to have invested in the immovable properties and the remuneration he received from the producer for acting in the film was being looked into.

Sources in the I-T said the actor had allegedly received his remuneration for Bigil in cash, which was ‘unaccounted’. Though it was speculated that his remuneration could be ₹50 crore, sources in IT said they are yet to confirm the amount Vijay received.

Also read | I-T sleuths take actor Vijay to Chennai for questioning