Chennai, Aug 2 (IANS) The Income Tax department officers on Tuesday conducted raids on the premises of Tamil film producer Anbu Chezhiyan in Madurai over suspected tax evasion.

Raids are also being conducted at the offices of film producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu in Chennai and film producer S.K. Prabhu’s residence at Teynampet, Chennai.

The I-T officers commenced the raids this morning at the office and residences of these prominent financiers and producers in the Tamil film industry.

Anbu Chezhiyan has financed several Tamil movies and has also taken the distribution of many successful movies. His Gopuram Films banner has produced movies and has also distributed some movies in Tamil. The IT sleuths are conducting raids at 40 locations related to Anbu Chezhiyan in Madurai and ten locations in Chennai.

Notably, the IT department conducted major raids at the residences and offices of prominent financiers in the Tamil film industry on February 5, 2020. The tax department had raided around 38 prominent producers and actors in the search operation of 2020 which included Super Star Vijay.

The IT department had in its raids at Anbu Chezhiyans residence on February 5, 2020, recovered Rs 65 crore in cash. This was immediately after the Vijay starrer Bigil was released and Anbu Chezhiyan was the producer of the movie.