Suriya producer of Viruman put up a brave face at the audio launch of his film Viruman in Madurai ( home town of financier Anbu ) which has his brother Karthi as the hero. Suriya’s close friends S R Prabhu and Gananvel Raja were in the Income tax dragnet along with ten other producers who had links with Anbu Chezyiyan . Latest info from IT sleuths is that the entire case would be handed over to Enforcement Directorate ( ED) as it shows money laundering of black money given by some biz man with links to DMK – AIADMK top leaders.
The pattern has a definite plan. Instead of raiding Kamal Haasan production office, they have hit the financier Anbu and executive producer Mahendran . They have left out Udhaunidhi Stalin who distributed Kamal’s Vikram 2. Instead of going straight to Suriya’s 2D entertainment, they have picked up their link producers S R Prabhu , Gananvel and Kalaipuli Thanu ( currently producing Vaadivasal with Suriya under Vetrimaaran direction). They questioned Rahul , close aide of Boney Kapoor who produced Valimai with Ajith and distributed by Anbu)
Anbu Cheziyan was in 1990’s known as a benami of Sasikala and known to be a straight man who delivered money , if promised and never went back on his word. He got the documents of land owned by the producer apart from usual promissory note- blank cheques and a hypothecation of the film rights. Before release, the capital with interest had to be paid or ELSE ???. Actor- director Sasikumar’s brother who is a producer committed suicide and left a note blaming Anbu for his death. A case was filed and Anbu was arrested and let off.
Those in the film finance biz say that Anbu post Sasikala jail term was in the trade handling same biz for those with connections to DMK. Anbu’s daughter is married to Sharan who is nephew of Industries Minister Thengam Theanarasu. Sharan is director of an IAS Academy and his father is Rajendran IAS. Anbu has 50 movie halls that are looked after by his daughter.
Even though Ajith was acting in Boney Kapoor film, he did not turn up for the wedding and there was no report of Anbu having extended an invitation. A decade back, Ajith had a bitter experience at the hands of Anbu. Similarly, Vijay too kept off from the wedding Every one from Rajini- Kamal- Suriya onwards, turned up at the wedding. The wedding guest list had come handy for IT guys who came from Mumbai.
A seemingly inquisitive query to Raj Kamal Films of Kamal Haasan as how Anbu Cheziyan who was given the Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of Vikram 2 got transferred to Udhaynidhi Stalin to distribute it through his Red Giant movies was a trigger point. RKFI said that it owed Gopuram films of Anbu, an amount and in return it had given the Tamil Nadu distribution rights on a sharing basis. Gopuram film entered into a deal with Red Giant and RKFI was only the beneficiary and not the facilitator.
Veteran tax experts pointed out that once a company is raided and records seized, the department does not conduct another raid till the earlier case is closed. The raid on Anbu in 2020 is still open. So the raid was to help strengthen the findings of the ED that certain biz men black money was laundered by Anbu through his film financing deals.
Those in know , point out that like in Shekar Reddy case where OPS- his son and other ministers in the then ADMK ministry were caught in IT dragnet , Anbu links to top brass will remain as a lever with those who need it . The raid on Shekar Reddy was on the grounds that he had crores of newly issued rupee notes son after demonetization
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