A writ petition has moved the Madras High Court seeking criminal action against TVK chief Vijay over alleged tax-related issues linked to his remuneration in the 2015 film ‘Puli’.
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A legal petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president C. Joseph Vijay. The case is linked to alleged income tax irregularities connected with the 2015 Tamil film ‘Puli’.
The matter has now reached the stage where the High Court Registry has officially numbered the petition, and it is expected to come up for hearing soon under the heading “For Maintainability.”
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The petition was originally submitted last month, but it was not numbered at that time. The Registry had initially refused to take it forward. However, the matter did not end there. A division bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan intervened on April 8 and directed the Registry to number the petition, but only after examining its maintainability.
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Following this direction, the case has now been numbered on Wednesday.
At the centre of the petition are income tax proceedings that began after the release of ‘Puli’ in 2015. According to details mentioned in the petition, the Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations on September 30, 2015, at premises connected to Vijay. During this operation, officials reportedly recovered materials suggesting the presence of unaccounted cash transactions.
The petition further claims that producers PT Selvakumar and Shibu of SKT Studios had made payments to Vijay for his work in the film. These payments allegedly included Rs 16 crore through cheque transfers and an additional Rs 4.93 crore in cash.
The documents cited in the plea state that while Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) was paid for the cheque payments, no such deduction was made for the cash component.
During the Income Tax Department’s investigation, Vijay was reportedly questioned about the financial transactions related to the film.
The petition states that during this questioning, he admitted to receiving nearly Rs 5 crore in cash connected to his remuneration for ‘Puli’. It is also mentioned that he agreed to pay tax on this amount.
The petition further claims that, in an effort to cooperate with tax authorities and resolve the issue, Vijay voluntarily disclosed an additional income of Rs 15 crore for the financial year 2015-16. This disclosure reportedly included the cash amount that was under scrutiny.
Following these developments, Vijay filed his income tax returns for the assessment year 2016-17 on July 29, 2016. In these returns, he declared a total income of Rs 35.42 crore, which included the additional income he had earlier disclosed during the tax proceedings.
Along with the income details, the returns also included financial claims. These reportedly consisted of depreciation on assets valued at Rs 17.81 lakh. The filings also mentioned an exemption claim for fans’ club-related expenses amounting to Rs 64.71 lakh.
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