Income Tax officials today made searches in the residences and offices of prominent South Indian actors Vijay, Nayanthara and Samantha. Sleuths of the Department made the searches in over 32 locations spread across different states including Chennai, Madurai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.

Sources in the IT Department say, the searches are based on suspected tax evasion charges. The raid in the premises of actor Vijay comes a day before his heavy budget movie “Puli” is set to hit the big screen.

Searches were also made in the residences and offices of the producers and key members of the production crew. A lot of investments involved in making the fantasy movie is suspected to be not properly accounted.

The residences and properties of actors Nayanthara and Samantha were also raided today. Though they are unrelated incidents, the raids happened simultaneously.