Plea in Madras High Court insists on FIR, money laundering probe against TVK’s Vijay over 2015 income tax dispute

A writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president C. Joseph Vijay on the basis of income tax proceedings initiated after the release of his Tamil movie Puli in 2015 for alleged suppression of income, receipt of unaccounted cash remuneration and concealment of financial transactions.

The High Court Registry numbered the writ petition on Wednesday (May 6, 2026) and it is expected to be listed under the caption ‘For Maintainability’ shortly. Though the case was filed last month, the Registry had refused to number the case. However, the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, on April 8, directed the Registry to number it subject to maintainability.

The Income Tax department had conducted a search and seizure operation on the premises belonging to Mr. Vijay on September 30, 2015, and seized certain incriminating materials. The materials indicated that P.T. Selvakumar and Shibu of SKT Studios, producers of Puli, had paid him ₹4.93 crore in cash apart from the remuneration of ₹16 crore through cheques.

The producers had deposited the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) only for the cheque amount and not the cash transaction. When Mr. Vijay was confronted with the records, he reportedly admitted to have received ₹5 crore in cash and agreed to pay the taxes for it. When asked how much of unaccounted income had he earned in the last six years, he replied he hadn’t received any unaccounted cash but for the ₹5 crore for Puli.

Nevertheless, to cooperate with the I-T department and resolve the tax issues in an amicable manner, Mr. Vijay had agreed to disclose an additional income of ₹15 crore (including the cash transaction of ₹5 crore) for the financial year 2015-16 and pay the necessary taxes for it.

Subsequently, on July 29, 2016, he filed his return of income for the assessment year 2016-17 declaring his total income to be ₹35.42 crore, including the additional ₹15 crore. While filing the returns, he claimed depreciation of assets worth ₹17.81 lakh and sought exemption for his fans’ club expenses of ₹64.71 lakh.

However, the department disallowed his claims and passed an assessment order on December 30, 2017, determining the taxable income to be ₹38.25 crore. The assessment order also stated that the actor would not have disclosed the additional income but for the search and seizure operation.

Therefore, the department imposed penalty under Sections 271(1)(c) and 271AAB(1) of the I-T Act. Though he chose to go on statutory appeal against the assessment order as well as the penalty imposed under Section 271(1)(c), the penalty under Section 271AAB(1) alone was challenged by way of a writ petition. Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy dismissed the writ petition on February 6, 2026.

Though a writ appeal was filed against the dismissal order, it is yet to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench. In the meantime, referring to these incidents, the present petitioner M. Rajkumar of Kodungaiyur in Chennai had approached the court seeking a direction to the I-T department to initiate prosecution against Mr. Vijay and also to the appropriate law enforcement agencies to register a FIR.

The petitioner has also sought a direction to the I-T department to place the materials before the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) for the purpose of ascertaining whether any offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act too had been committed.