‘Liger’ director Puri Jagannadh and producer Charmme Kaur were summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on November 18 over ‘Liger's investment. According to Times of India report, the duo was grilled for over 12 hours on their source of income for producing the movie. Vijay Deverakonda-Ananya Panday starrer was a high-budget film with shoots in Las Vegas, including payments for former boxing champion Mike Tyson.
As per reports, ED served notice to the duo under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Sources told the Times of India that besides movie funding, high-value payments made in foreign currency to technical crew and foreign actors at Las Vegas have come under ED scrutiny.
Puri Jagannadh was reportedly also quizzed over the funding of his next project ‘Jana Gana Mana’.
The probe on ‘Liger's team began after Congress leader Bakka Judson lodged a complaint with the ED in September claiming Telangana CM KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha had invested money in the film.
This is the second time Jagannadh and Charmme Kaur are being questioned by ED. Last year, they were grilled regarding allegations of the Tollywood Drug Case and money laundering.
‘Liger’, which was released in theatres on August 25, ended up as a box office disaster.
Post the film’s debacle, the distributors of ‘Liger’ asked Puri to compensate their losses and also allegedly threatened to protest outside his residence for not returning their money.
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