I-T searches continue at premises of Tollywood production house

Hyderabad, April 20: Income Tax (I-T) officials continued searches at the offices of Telugu film production company, Mythri Movie Makers in Hyderabad for a second consecutive day on Thursday.

A team of I-T officials from New Delhi were also searching the residence of Sukumar, who directed movies like 'Pushpa', 'Rangasthalam' and 'Arya'.

The I-T officials continued to search residences of Mythri Movie Makers promoters, including Erneni Naveen, Cherukuri Mohan, and Yalamanchili Ravishankar in Jubilee Hills.

The officials were checking records of their financial transactions for allegedly breaking investment regulations by bringing in funds from abroad for the second time in less than four months after December 2022.

The production house is suspected to have funnelled funds from abroad and invested in Tollywood to produce several films.

The I-T raids are happening at a time when the production house and Sukumar are engaged in the shooting of Allu Arjun-starrer 'Pushap-2'.

Sukumar, who founded his own production business, Sukumar Writings, is working with Mythri Movie Makers to co-produce the much awaited 'Pushpa: The Rule', a sequel of blockbuster 'Pushpa:The Rise'.

Mythri Movie Makers produced some big blockbusters like 'Pushpa', 'Rangasthalam', 'Srimanthudu', 'Janatha Garage', 'Dear Comrade', 'Sarkar Vari Pata', 'Uppena', 'Waltair Veeraiah' and 'Veera Narasimha Reddy'.

It is also producing 'Ustad Bhagat Singh' starring actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.

The production house allegedly allowed an investment of Rs 500 crore from abroad without following the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms.

The production house also allegedly failed to disclose total investments and income sources in their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filing.

This is the second time that offices and residences of Mythri Movie Makers were searched by the I-T officials. Previously searches were conducted in December 2022.