In comments seen as defending income tax raids on Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker-actor Anurag Kashyap, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the same persons were raided in 2013 as well, but no issue was made out then as is being done now.

Refusing to comment on individual cases, she said it is in the national interest to know if some evasion was happening.

“First of all, I am not commenting on any A or B individual. (But) since the names were taken, (I want to say) the very same names were raided in 2013,” PTI quoted the finance minister as saying during an interaction with journalists at Indian Women’s Press Corps in New Delhi yesterday.

It “wasn’t an issue (in 2013). It’s an issue now,” she said. Sitharaman, however, did not talk about the outcome of the 2013 raids and if any follow-up action was taken in the last seven years.

The Income Tax Department on March 3, 2021 began raids on the homes and offices of Pannu and Kashyap as well as his partners, who launched the now-shuttered production house Phantom Films.

The searches, part of a tax evasion probe against Phantom Films, carried out across 30 locations in Mumbai and Pune, also covered Reliance Entertainment group CEO Shibhasish Sarkar and some executives of celebrity and talent management companies KWAN and Exceed, according to the PTI.

Asked to comment on the raids, Sitharaman spoke of the 2013 raids not being an issue and they suddenly become one now.

“Answer it for the hypocrisy or answer it, saying from then this is happening till now, what’s the matter (with now),” she said. “In the national interest, do we want to know if there is some evasion happening?”

Pannu and Kashyap are both known to be outspoken in their views on a range of issues.

“I don’t know. I am not commenting on a particular case. But if that relates to particular names I want to ask – should we raise questions whether there was a serious omission and commission or should we raise a question about ‘oh it’s happening now’?” Sitharaman said.

The tax department in a statement on Thursday had stated that search and survey operations were carried out in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad.

“During the search, evidence of huge suppression of income by the leading film compared to the actual box office collections has been unearthed,” the department had said, referring to Kashyap’s venture. “The company officials have not been able to explain the discrepancy of around ₹300 crore (Rs. 3,000 million).”

Founded in 2011, Phantom Films produced films such as ‘Lootera’, ‘Queen’, ‘Ugly’, ‘NH 10’, ‘Masaan’and ‘Udta Punjab’. However, it was disbanded seven years later. Kashyap later launched a new production company called Good Bad Films.

Kashyap also helmed the first season of Netflix’s runaway best seller from India, Sacred Games, and continues to make content for streaming platforms, apart from films.