I-T sends summons to Vijay for questioning, actor seeks more time

The Income Tax Department (I-T Department) on Monday (February 10) issued a summons to actor Vijay for questioning him as a part of their investigation in a case related to unaccounted cash with financier Anbu Chezhiyan.

However, the actor has sought time to file a reply and to decide on his course of action, sources said.

I-T officials seized over ₹77 crore in ‘unaccounted cash’ from Anbu Cheliyan, who financed Vijay-starrer Bigil.

I-T officials had 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 documents was under way.

The move comes days after the I-T department conducted continuous raid at various premises of actor Vijay.

Similarly, they also raided 20 locations related to the AGS Group, which includes AGS Cinemas and AGS Entertainment, which produced the movie Bigil in 2019.

I-T sleuths turned up at the shooting location of his upcoming film Master at the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC)’s second tunnel. Vijay was taken to Chennai in his car for further questioning. The sleuths questioned him for several hours at his Chennai residence.

Also read: ₹77 crore ‘unaccounted’ cash seized from Vijay-starrer Bigil financier

The shooting of the Lokesh Kanagaraj movie had to be halted mid-way. Later, after several hours of investigation, the shooting was resumed on February 7.

But, around 50 protesters indulged in an argument with the security personnel of NLC’s second tunnel, sparking tensions at the spot. Also, Vijay fans’ too turned up at the shooting location in support of the actor. The police stepped up deployment as the actor had come out of the sets to wave at his fans.

There was a political storm after I-T sleuths landed up at actor’s door as fans’ and well-wishers of the actor said he was being harassed for no reason. They said Vijay’s politically loaded films had not gone down well with the establishment and there were attempts to browbeat him into submission.

On Monday (February 10), Dayanidhi Maran, MP, said in Parliament that Vijay was being tormented when actors like Rajnikanth was being dealt with a soft glove.

Previously, Vijay’s character, in the movie Sarkar, had shunned the use of freebies. Taking a cue, fans across the state broke or set on fire hundreds of gadgets they received as freebies from the government. This had created quite a ruckus in the state.