“I Have Declined Rajya Sabha Seats Two Times”: Sonu Sood

Mumbai/New Delhi: Actor Sonu Sood today denied allegations of tax evasion and illegal funding, days after tax raids at his Mumbai home and offices. Calling himself a law-abiding citizen, he also revealed that he had received offers of a Rajya Sabha seat from two parties but he was “not mentally ready” to join politics.

“Whatever documents, details they asked for, we gave. Whatever questions they asked, I answered. I did my part, they did theirs. Whatever questions they raised, we answered each and every one of them with documents. That’s my duty. We are still providing documents…it is part of the process,” the actor told media in his first interview since the raid.

Earlier today, Sonu Sood also put out a statement on the raids at his properties in Mumbai for four days in a row last week. The 48-year-old actor, whose philanthropic efforts during the Covid crisis won huge praise and even earned him the moniker “messiah”, has been accused of evading taxes worth over ₹ 20 crore. The tax department also said his charity set up in July last year collected donations of over ₹ 18 crore but only ₹ 1.9 crore has been spent on relief work.

“It is very surprising. Whatever we collect is not just money donated by citizens. A chunk of that is also my remuneration from brand endorsements. I ask them to donate to charity which can save lives,” he said.

“I have 54,000 unread mails, thousands of messages on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter. It will not even take 18 hours to finish 18 crores. But I have to make sure every single penny is used in a proper way, for a genuine and needy person.”

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