Mathias Boe, the badminton player from Denmark who has been appointed to coach the Indian badminton team, created a controversy on Friday by asking sports minister Kiren Rijiju to intervene in income tax raid on his girlfriend Taapsee Pannu. While he wrote that he was in a ‘bit of turmoil’ due to ‘unnecessary stress’ on Taapsee, actually he has much deeper link to the ongoing income tax department action against several Bollywood personalities including Anurag Kashyap.
Apart from being the coach of India’s national players, Mathias Boe is also the coach of Pune 7 Aces, a franchisee badminton team that participates in the Premier Badminton League. Pune 7 Aces is owned by his girlfriend Taapsee Pannu, and talent management company KRI Entertainment.
After the raids on Kashyap’s Phantom film and others, the offices of KRI entertainment were also raided yesterday. The company manages several Bollywood actors, including Taapsee. According to I-T dept sources, the company has ties with Phantom Films, and their financial transactions are under the scanner.
Therefore, Mathias Boe is associated with a badminton team which is owned by Taapsee and KRI, both being probed by the income tax department for tax evasion. This means, he was not just worried about his girlfriend, but the franchisee team he coaches could also be in trouble.
Before becoming the coach, Marhias had earlier played for the Pune 7 Aces in the PBL, and was also led the team as skipper.
Questions are also being raised whether Mathias coaching Indian national team and the Pune 7 Aces team in PBL involves a conflict of interest case. It may be mentioned here that national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand had faced similar charges, because apart from the chief coach, he also runs his own academy, and is associated with Premier Badminton League, and a member of national selection team.
The raid on Phantom Films and others have unearthed a huge tax fraud. According to the I-T Dept, the company officials have not been able to explain the discrepancy of around Rs. 300 crore. “Evidence related to manipulation and under-valuation of share transactions of the production house amongst the film directors and shareholders, having tax implication of about Rs. 350 crore has been found and is being further investigated,” the department said.
