The Crime Branch has closed the cases for alleged tax evasion against actors Amala Paul and Fahadh Fazil in connection with the registration of their premium vehicles in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
A closure report to this effect was filed recently at the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. The investigation agency has cited jurisdictional issues in pursuing the cases for taking such a decision.
According to Crime Branch sources, both the actors had bought their vehicles from outside the State and, as such, no loss was inflicted on the State exchequer by their registration elsewhere.
While Ms. Paul had bought the vehicle in Bengaluru, Mr. Fazil had bought his vehicles from Bengaluru and Delhi.
Besides, Mr. Fazil had shifted the registration of vehicles to Kerala and paid the tax soon after the controversy erupted.
Amala lived in T.N.
Sources said that Ms. Paul lived mostly in Tamil Nadu and was constantly on the move for film shooting. Asked whether she had used the vehicle in the State for more than 30 days in which case the tax here was applicable, Crime Branch sources said that there was no evidence to that effect and even if there was, it was for the Motor Vehicles Department to take action.
“We, however, have intimated MVD authorities in Puducherry that Ms. Paul had registered her vehicle there on a fake address. It is for them to act up on it,” sources said.
However, the Crime Branch investigation against actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi on similar tax evasion charges is continuing and nearing completion. Unlike the other two, he had bought the vehicle in Kerala, and as of now, there is strong evidence to suggest that he had registered it in Puducherry on a false address to evade tax.
Besides, investigation is at varying stages against 380-odd vehicle owners from Kerala who had registered their vehicles in Puducherry to avoid the perceived steep tax rates in Kerala for the much lower rates of the Union Territory, said sources.
