Mumbai, January 25: The homes and offices of two of the most bankable Bollywood stars Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif were raided by the income- tax ( I- T) department on Monday.
I- T officials carried out raids at property belonging to both the high- profile actresses and some of their associates for suspected tax evasion on income accruing from advertisements, foreign assignments and guest appearances.
The sleuths also seized 12 private lockers from the raided properties.
Sources said while the raids were carried out at the properties of both the actresses, the primary target was Priyanka.
An I- T official said the raids began at 7.30 am and went on till late evening. They will continue on Tuesday.
The raids were conducted at Katrina’s residence on the seventh floor of Guldev Sagar building in suburban Bandra and Priyanka’s apartment on the eighth floor of Raj Classic building at Yari Road in suburban Versova.
The Versova residence of Priyanka’s father Dr Ashok Chopra was also raided.
Officials said they were searching for some important papers at her Raj Classic apartment. She allegedly owns five flats in the building amalgamated into a huge duplex.
Along with the actresses, the offices of their associates and public relation firms were also raided.
Raids were conducted at the homes and the offices of Chand Mishra, Priyanka’s business manager.
Several of Katrina’s associates also came under scanner.
The houses of Rohini Iyer, who handles Katrina’s publicity through her firm Raindrop Media and her manager Sandhya were raided too.
The office of Matrix, a talent management firm owned by Reshma Shetty associated with Katrina, was also raided.
In a related development, ace fashion photographer Atul Kasbekar’s talent management firm Bling based in Worli was raided.
Bling is also involved in plum deals that Bollywood stars strike for advertisements and promotional campaigns with companies.
IT officials refused to give details since the raids were on and they were still in the process of cross- checking the I- T returns filed by the stars and the documents that they have found.
They, however said they have preliminary information that the two actresses had not reported many of their cash transactions to the I- T department.
“ A huge amount running into crores has exchanged hands as the actresses performed in shows abroad and weddings. Ad deals with commercial companies have also been undervalued and hence the raids,” said an I- T official.