Madras High Court Petition Seeks FIR Against Actor Vijay Over ‘Puli’ Income Tax Allegations

Chennai, May 2026 : A writ petition has been filed before the Madras High Court seeking the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) President C. Joseph Vijay over alleged income tax irregularities linked to the 2015 Tamil film Puli.

The petition was formally numbered by the High Court Registry on Wednesday and is expected to be listed soon under the category “For Maintainability,” where the court will first determine whether the plea is admissible for detailed hearing. The case had initially been filed last month, but the Registry had declined to number it at that stage.

Subsequently, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, on April 8, directed that the petition be numbered, subject to scrutiny on maintainability.

The plea is based on income tax proceedings that followed the release of Puli in 2015. According to documents cited in the petition, the Income Tax Department conducted search and seizure operations at premises linked to Vijay on September 30, 2015. During these raids, certain materials were allegedly recovered that pointed to unaccounted cash transactions.

The petition claims that the film’s producers — P.T. Selvakumar and Shibu of SKT Studios — had paid Vijay approximately Rs 4.93 crore in cash in addition to Rs 16 crore paid via cheques as remuneration. It further alleges that Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) was deposited only on the cheque component, while no such deduction was made on the purported cash payment.

During the course of the tax investigation, Vijay was reportedly questioned by officials regarding these transactions. The petition states that he acknowledged receiving nearly Rs 5 crore in cash related to the film and agreed to pay the applicable taxes. It also claims that, in an effort to settle the matter and cooperate with authorities, he voluntarily disclosed an additional income of Rs 15 crore for the financial year 2015–16, which included the alleged cash component.

Following this, on July 29, 2016, Vijay filed his income tax returns for the assessment year 2016–17, declaring a total income of Rs 35.42 crore. The filing reportedly included the additional disclosed income, along with claims such as depreciation of assets worth Rs 17.81 lakh and exemptions for fans’ club-related expenses amounting to Rs 64.71 lakh.

The petitioner has now sought criminal proceedings and the registration of an FIR based on the findings recorded during the Income Tax proceedings. The High Court is expected to first decide on the maintainability of the petition before taking up further legal considerations in the matter.