I-T sleuths question Katrina Kaif

According to sources,a two-member team of income tax officials went to Hotel Bellavista in Sector 5,Panchkula,where Katrina was staying,on Tuesday morning and questioned her for more than an hour. The questions pertained to who invited her for the function,how much money was paid to her and who paid her the money. The other questions were about the payment of I-T returns and the mode (cash or cheque). She was also asked if she directly paid the money to the department or through the event management company that arranged her show here,said sources.

“She replied to our queries and we recorded her statements. She was quite cooperative,though a little evasive at times when she said the event management company would know the details,” said an officer who did not wish to be named.

“We are still investigating the matter now and cannot say anything at this stage. She is a resident of Mumbai and our questioning was limited to the wedding function at Seonk where she performed,” said the officer.

Sources said that the IT sleuths did not question the other two actors,Malaika Arora Khan and Sameera Reddy,who also performed at the function. They added that the wedding was under the scanner of the I-T department and a tab was being kept on everything from event management to catering.

An officer said they had no plans to question the groom’s father for the time being. Nearly 4,000 guests attended this wedding,with a few flown down from Mumbai. The celebrations were marked with a display of fireworks and a laser show.

Despite repeated efforts,Director General of (Investigations),Income Tax,Jaswant Singh was not available for comments,while Joint Director General of (Investigations) Income Tax Manjeet Singh declined to comment,saying: “Ask my superiors.”

Katrina is already under the Income Tax scanner in Mumbai as documents related to unaccounted income of about Rs 6 crore were found at her Bandra residence.