Top Kannada actors face I-T dept heat for 2nd day
I-T officials raid four top Kannada actors, three producers
Bengaluru, Jan 4: The Income Tax department raids on four leading Kannada film actors and three producers here continued for the second day Friday, officials said.
In a simultaneous swoop down, the I-T officials began the raids Thursday morning on the properties of film actors Shiva Rajkumar and his brother Puneeth Rajkumar, sons of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar, and Sudeep and Yash.
The film producers who were raided are C R Manohar, 'Rockline' Venkatesh and Vijay Kiragandur.
With no relief to the actors and producers on the second day as well, the Income Tax officials expanded the scope of the raid by searching the premises of their close friends and relatives, I-T sources said.
The sleuths went through documents, files, ledger books, and seized a huge cache of cash and gold, they said.
Meanwhile, supporters of Shiva Rajkumar staged a demonstration outside his Manyata Tech Park residence, protesting against the raid.
Sudeep had expressed his apprehension Thursday that the raids could be linked to three blockbuster movies 'KGF', 'Villain' and 'Nata Sarvabhouma'.
Nicknamed 'Hattrick star', Shivarajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar are the sons of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar.
Both actors have been delivering 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 December 21 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 was 'The Villain', starring Shiva Rajkumar, Sudeep and Mithun Chakraborty.
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Puducherry (PTI): Puducherry experienced heavy rains on Saturday morning prompting the union territory administration to send SMS alerts to around 12 lakh residents cautioning them to remain vigilant as cyclonic storm Fengal is expected to make landfall near here later in the day.
District Collector A Kulothungan told PTI that all necessary steps have been taken to ensure that people remained safe.
"We have evacuated people from low lying areas and shelter homes are ready to accommodate them. Arrangements were also made to supply food packets," he said adding that National Disaster Relief Force from Arakonam has arrived to engage in relief and rehabilitation works.
According to the official, cyclone Fengal was expected to cross the coast in the evening. Control rooms have been opened in the collectorate and also in the line departments.
Toll free numbers 112, 1077 and also WhatsApp number 94889 81070 have been put in place to help people facing crisis to contact for help.
Cyclone Fengal is likely to cross between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram coasts close to Puducherry, official sources said. The government has advised people to stay indoors.
The entire stretch of beach road and also several tourist spots were closed to ensure that there was no movement of the people near the sea shore.
Schools and colleges remained closed today.
