CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed its Registry to list a petition seeking orders to register an FIR and money laundering case against actor and leader of TVK Vijay for the offences of suppression of income, receiving unaccounted cash as remuneration and concealment of financial transactions unearthed during a search and seizure proceedings.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan passed the orders recently when the petitioner M Rajkumar, of Kodungaiyur, in Chennai, raised the issue of the Registry refusing to number his petition and list it for hearing.
The petition sought the court to issue directions to the Director General of Income Tax (Investigations) and the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (Central) to examine the materials and findings recorded in the search proceedings (conducted in the premises of Vijay in 2015), the sworn statements recorded under section 132 (4) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the assessment proceedings and the penalty order passed under section 271 AAB and initiate appropriate criminal action under the relevant provisions including 276 C of Income Tax Act.
He also prayed for directions to the appropriate law enforcement authorities to register an FIR and conduct investigation into the commission of cognizable offences under sections 420, 467, 470, 471 and 120 (B) of Indian Penal Code for suppression of income, receipt of unaccounted cash remuneration and concealment of financial transactions disclosed in the course of the search and statutory proceedings.
Moreover, the petitioner sought registration of a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 against Vijay and to hold further investigations.
The bench, in the order, said, “The Registry is directed to number the writ petition with an endorsement “numbered subject to maintainability” and list the case for admission, separately under the caption “for maintainability.”
Citing certain judgments of the Supreme Court on the question of maintainability of the petitions and the circulars issued by the High Court, the bench said if the Registry has a doubt on the maintainability of petitions, it shall number the case and list it before the roster judge along with objections raised and compliance reported.
“It is for the court to decide on maintainability of the case and if found maintainable, then to consider the case on merits,” the bench said.
Background
It may be recalled that Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy of the High Court, on Feb. 6, 2026, dismissed a petition filed by actor Vijay against the Income Tax department for imposing a penalty of Rs. 1.50 crore for non-disclosure of the income during the assessment year 2015-16.
He held that the Income Tax department was within the limitation period under section 275 (1) (a) of the Income Tax Act and said there was no infirmity warranting interference of the court and so dismissed Vijay’s petition.
The order of penalty was issued on June 30, 2022 on Vijay for concealing the real income for 2015-16 subsequent to the search conducted in the premises of Vijay and SKT producers in 2015 and seizure of incriminating documents showing receipt of Rs. 4.93 crore in cash over and above a cheque payment of Rs. 16 crores from the producers but concealed the income from the accounts.
The department imposed a penalty of Rs. 1.50 crore for non-disclosure of Rs. 5 crore and another amount of Rs. 10 crores showed as income later. He filed an appeal against the penalty order and the Commissioner of Income Tax-Appeals partly allowed the appeal. However, the I-T department approached the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal against this order. The ITAT partly allowed the I-T department’s appeal. Subsequent to this order, the penalty order was passed.
Vijay has filed an appeal against the dismissal of his petition by the single judge.
