The Income Tax department has conducted raids at ‘Game Changer’ producer Dil Raju and ‘Pushpa 2’ producers Ravi Shankar Yalamanchili and Naveen Yerneni’s offices and homes in Hyderabad. Dil Raju whose real name is Velamkucha Venkata Ramana Reddy, is a prominent producer and distributor in the Telugu film industry. He owns Sri Venkateswara Creations. He recently backed ‘Game Changer’ and ‘Sankranthiki Vasthunam’ and the latter is performing well at the box office. Moreover, he also serves as the chairman of Telugu film producer and Telangana Film Development Corporation. On the other hand, Mythri Movie Markers’ Ravi Shankar Yalamanchili, and Naveen Yerneni recently backed the globally hit ‘Pushpa: The Rule.’

As per reports, the IT department conducted the raids at eight different locations in Hyderabad, including the homes and offices of these producers and an online portal. Meanwhile, Raju’s daughter Hansitha Reddy, who owns Dil Raju Productions, is also under IT scrutiny. As per the word swirling around, the raids are hinged on suspected tax evasion, however, further details are awaited. Moreover, the IT department has yet to release a statement regarding the same.

Advertisement

These raids come after the massive success of Venkatesh-led ‘Sankranthiki Vasthunam’ for Dil Raju. On the other hand, Ravi and Naveen recently bankrolled Allu Arjun’s record-breaking actioner ‘Pushpa 2.’ Meanwhile, Dil Raju also produced the Ram Charan’s political entertainer ‘Game Changer’ which received a lukewarm response. Notably, all three films hit theatres in recent months with ‘Pushpa 2’ and ‘Game Changer’ developed on whopping budgets.

Looking at the box office figures reported by Sacnilk, ‘Pushpa: The Rule’ racked up 1228.25 crores net domestically. On the flip side, it collected 1734.65 crores worldwide following its release on December 5. The title emerged as the biggest film of 2024 with its impressive numbers. Moving ahead, ‘Game Changer’ collected 125.4 crores net, domestically, and 179.55 crores worldwide. The film hit theatres on January 10. On the other hand, ‘Sankranthiki Vastunam’ has collected 122.78 crores net in India since its release on January 14.

Recently, Dil Raju issued a statement on escalating ticket rates. He dubbed the issue as miniscule compared to CM’s vision of taking Telugu cinema to the global stage. “These small things like benefit shows and ticket rates do not matter. Nearly 200 Telugu films are released every year. The Telugu film industry and government will work together to take Telugu cinema to the global stage, it is a big responsibility that the CM has given us.”

Also Read: Taylor Swift is in talks to perform in India, but there’s a catch

Dil Raju’s production banner has bankrolled hits like ‘Dil,’ ‘Arya’ and ‘Bommarillu.’ In 2023, he produced the Vijay’s ‘Varisu.’ He also co-produced Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s ‘Shaakunthala.’ On the other hand, Mythri Movie Makers have backed ‘Dear Comrade,’ ‘Gang Leader,’ ‘Mathu Vadalara’ and the ‘Pushpa’ film franchise among others.