Bollywood actor Sonu Sood's Mumbai office surveyed by Income Tax Department

Picture courtesy: Rediff.com

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood's office in Mumbai and a company in Lucknow linked to him were surveyed by the Income Tax department, according to reports. Sources have revealed that the IT department surveyed Sonu's property since allegedly there has been tampering in the books of accounts related to the actor.

The tax raids come days after Sonu Sood's high-profile meeting with Arvind Kejriwal, who declared him the brand ambassador for his government's mentorship programme for school students in the capital. The report also added that Sonu Sood had refused to respond to questions after that meeting on the possibility of joining politics, specifically Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The 48-year-old actor won wide praise for his charity work during the pandemic. He organised special flights and buses home for migrants stranded by last year's lockdown and in April-May, at the peak of the second wave, he organised oxygen for Covid patients.

AAP leader Raghav Chaddha said: "An IT raid on a man as upright as Sonu Sood, somebody who has been called a messiah by lakhs of people, somebody who helped the downtrodden. If a man like him can be politically targeted in a well thought out witch-hunt shows that the current regime is insensitive and politically insecure."

The BJP's critics expressed outrage at the raids.