Officials of the central investigating agencies are learnt to have raided the office of prominent Telugu film production house – Mythri Movie Makers Private Limited – at Jubilee Hills on Wednesday, according to reports from the Film Nagar sources.
While some sections said the raids are being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate, others said Income Tax department authorities are conducting searches in the MMM office.
Sources said the authorities are conducting searches even in the residence of prominent director Sukumar, who is presently engaged in the making of the sequel of superhit film Pushpa. It is titled as “Pushpa: The Rule.”
According to sources, the officials have since morning been conducting searches in the premises of Mythri Movie Makers and their promoters, including Yerneni Naveen and Yalamanchili Ravi Shankar in Jubilee Hills.
Apparently, the ED has got a tip off that the promoters were indulging in money laundering through diversion of funds in hawala route. The promoters are NRIs with business links abroad.
In December last, the officials of the Goods and Services Tax department and income-tax department conducted searches on the residences and office premises of Mythri Movie Makers, for allegedly violating GST norms and furnishing wrong details in their I-T returns (ITRs).
According to media reports, the GST officials allegedly found violations in their GST returns on the purchase of units for making films and their related taxes. The officials allegedly verified the GST returns of the past year and questioned their auditors.
On the other hand, the I-T officials focussed on the sources of income for Mythri Movie Makers and verified the financial details of the film productions unit.
Sources said that the promoters had allegedly arranged Rs 700 crore from different sources but failed to file appropriate GST returns and allegedly failed to reveal the source of income in ITRs filed for the financial year of 2022-23.
During the searches, the I-T department authorities reportedly found large scale money laundering by the company through hawala transactions and alerted the ED authorities. The present searches are said to be a sequel to the December raids, sources said.
The MMM, which was started in 2015, produced several blockbuster films like Srimanthudu, Janata Garage, Rangasthalam, Uppena, Pushpa: The Rise, Sarkaru Vaari Pata, Veera Simha Reddy and Waltair Veeraiah.
It is presently engaged in the production of Pushpa: The Rule and other films starring Pawan Kalyan, NTR and Ram Charan.