IT raids at homes of Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif - Mumbai Mirror

Posted On Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 03:24:16 AM

The Income Tax department on Monday conducted raids at the homes and offices of two of Bollywood's leading actresses - Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif. The searches began around 7.30 am. In raids that continued till late on Monday night, officials seized documents pertaining to financial transactions. "The officials took away two suitcases full of documents," said a neighbour of Katrina Kaif, who lives in an apartment in Guldev Sagar Society, Bandra (W). Among others, live performances by the two and their brand endorsements will come under the I-T department scanner, said an I-T official. Witnesses said Katrina was not present when a raid party of seven officials - three policemen, a lady constable and three I-T officials - arrived at her door in the morning. She, however, arrived soon after and let them into the seventh floor apartment. Income-Tax officials told Mumbai Mirror that Katrina was quite upset on seeing the raid party and defended herself, saying that she was a British citizen. However, Katrina, whose real name is Katrina Rosemary Turkote, was informed that earnings in India were taxable and being a British citizen did not amount to diplomatic immunity. Senior IT officials said they had information to suggest that both actresses could be involved in tax evasion. "It is only after we were satisfied that there was sufficient reason to believe that they may not have declared their entire earnings, did we decide to conduct the raids," said B P Gaur, DG (Investigation), IT. Sources in the IT department said ac Shahid Kapoor - who also lives in Raj Classic on Yari Road - was present at Priyanka's apartment when the I-T team rung her doorbell. Priyanka's parents, who live in another apartment on the same floor, were also present during the search. Sources indicate that Priyanka could be the proxy owner of at least four more flats apart from her own in the same premises. Apart from her residence, I-T sleuths also searched her father Ashok Kapoor's clinic and her personal secretary Chand Mishra's home. A representative of the actress told Mumbai Mirror that she was scheduled to shoot for Don 2 on Monday, which had to be shelved for the day. While there was no information about any seizures made, a team of senior officials was seen entering the apartment of Priyanka Chopra late in the evening.