Sonu Sood in trouble for tax evasion of ₹20cr

After days of search and raids on multiple premises of actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood, the Income Tax department shared that Sood and his associates had evaded taxes of over ₹20 crore.

The department also stated that Sood’s non-profit organisation raised ₹2.1 crore from overseas donors through a crowdfunding platform, which comes in violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

For the last three days, search operations were going on at various premises of Sood in Mumbai and a Lucknow-based real estate group. A total of 28 premises in Mumbai, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Delhi and Gurugram were searched. In a statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said “incriminating evidence pertaining to tax evasion have been found”. It also stated that the modus operandi followed by Sood was to route unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many fake entities.

The IT department has also found several foreign funds violations in Sood Charity Foundation — incorporated in July last year, around the time the country was struggling with the first wave of Covid-19 crisis. At the same time, he was involved in a lot of relief work, following which he turned into a real-life hero for many.

The CBDT said that the foundation collected donations worth ₹18.94 crore from April 1, 2021, till date, out of which it has spent around ₹1.9 crore towards relief work while the balance of ₹17 crore has been found unutilised in the bank account of the foundation.

The department also said that the probe for further investigation continues.