Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday, 5 January said no political motive should be seen in the ongoing Income Tax raids on top Kannada film stars and producers and asserted that they were only doing their duty, based on the inputs they receive.
Kumaraswamy said the raids were going on everywhere and it happens only when the I-T officials come to know about tax evasion.
“Instead of saying they (raids) are politically motivated, we should say that the I-T officials are doing their duty. What choice do they have if the information is correct?”HD Kumaraswamy
The raids on four film actors Shiva Rajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar, Sudeep and Yash, and film producers C R Manohar, 'Rockline' Venkatesh and Vijay Kirigandur continued for the third day on Saturday, I-T department sources said.
The sources added that they could not say whether the raids would end Saturday or not.
The chief minister said film actors and producers "are not something special" and everybody has to function within the legal framework of the country.
"Whenever there is information about the violations, legal procedure is followed," the chief minister said, adding that it holds good not only for the I-T department, but all the government departments.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said he has no objection if the raids are impartial, but it should not be something related to any political party.
He was replying to a question from reporters about if he thought there was any political motive behind the raids.
Who Are the Ones Being Raided?
Nicknamed 'Hattrick star', Shivarajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar are the sons of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar. Both actors have delivered blockbuster movies.
Sudeep, who anchored the Kannada version of 'Big Boss', was hailed for his role in the movie Eega – Makkhi in Hindi – and the multilingual Baahubali, which broke new grounds in Indian cinema and created records in box office collections.
'Rockline' Venkatesh had co-produced the Hindi movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
Vijay is the producer of the latest blockbuster movie KGF, starring Yash, Srinidhi Shetty and Anant Nag. The film hit 2,460 screens all over the country on 21 December and is reportedly a box office hit, not only in Kannada, but also in the Hindi and Tamil versions.
C R Manohar has his own production house called Tanvi Films. He has produced Kannada and Telugu movies.
His latest movie is The Villain, starring Shiva Rajkumar, Sudeep and Mithun Chakraborty.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)