Officials of the Income-Tax (I-T) Department on Wednesday conducted simultaneous raids on Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad and other premises owned by popular Tollywood producer Daggubati Suresh Babu.
Searches were also conducted at Suresh Babu's residence in Hyderabad. The raid began early in the morning on Wednesday and media reports suggest that officials are going through I-T returns filed by the production house over the last few years, to examine alleged tax evasion.
The raids are expected to continue until Wednesday evening. Some documents were also examined and seized by the officials, media reports added.
An official statement is yet to be issued and further details are awaited.
Daggubati Suresh Babu is one of the most well-known producers in the Telugu film industry, and he also owns Suresh Productions.
Suresh belongs to one of the most affluent families in Tollywood and is the son of legendary producer Daggubati Ramanaidu, who founded the production house, and produced more than 150 films in several Indian languages.
Suresh Babu’s son Rana Daggubati is an acclaimed actor, most famously known for his role in the Baahubali movie series.
In a recent interview, Suresh Babu had expressed concern about dwindling crowds at theatres. He'd said that he was worried about the future of the film industry, considering the pressure that film producers face due to streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.