Teams from the Income Tax Department and members of the CRPF conducted simultaneous search operations today at the residences and places of work of the Punjabi artists Kanwar Grewal and Ranjit Bawa.
The operation to check the alleged tax theft by the singers was reportedly led by Income Tax officers from Ludhiana as a result of several complaints. The operation’s specific objective was to compare the singers’ actual earnings to their reported wealth.
The Ministry of Home Affairs banned Grewal’s song “Rihai”. The song advocated for the release of Sikh prisoners who had been held captive for a number of years. The operation was carried out by IT inspectors in two of his homes—one in Bathinda and one in Taj Towers, Mohali.
A similar operation was carried out at the residences and commercial properties of singer Ranjit Bawa in Chandigarh, Mohali and Batala. The singers’ family members were not permitted to go outside and no guests were also permitted. If any suspicious financial knowledge is discovered by the operations, officials said a public release, if any, will be made later.
The I-T operations take place against the backdrop of the NIA officials interrogating several Punjabi musicians in-depth about the “influence” of gangsters in the Punjabi music business.