The Income Tax Department on March 3 raided properties linked to Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu, as well as director Anurag Kashyap, and Madhu Mantena, the latter two’s production house Phantom, and a talent agency in Mumbai and Pune over tax evasion allegations, according to reports. Queen director Vikas Bahl's properties are also reportedly being raided by the I-T Department.

The searches are being carried out in over 30 locations in Mumbai and Pune, officials said. Some executives of celebrity and talent management company KWAN are also being raided.

The action is part of a tax evasion probe against Phantom Films, which was dissolved in 2018, and its then promoters Kashyap, director-producer Vikramaditya Motwane, producer Vikas Bahl and producer-distributor Madhu Mantena, they said.

Sources said some inter-linked transactions between the entities searched are under the scanner of the department and the raids are aimed at gathering more evidence to further probe tax evasion allegations.

Founded in 2011, Phantom Films produced films such as Lootera, Queen, Ugly, NH 10, Masaan and Udta Punjab.

Kashyap later launched a new production company called Good Bad Films while Motwane launched Andolan Films.

The searches against Mantena are also being carried out in context of his links with KWAN, of which he was a co-promoter.

Taapsee, 33, has worked in numerous Hindi, Tamil and Telugu movies.

(PTI inputs)

This is a developing story.