IT sleuths grill actor Mammooty for 7 hours

Income Tax officials, who had conducted raids at the residence and business establishments of Malayalam superstar Mamooty, questioned him for nearly seven hours till early on Saturday morning.

The actor, who returned from Chennai at 9 pm on Friday night, was questioned by IT officials at his residence at Panampilly Naagar in Kochi till 3 am on Saturday, according to top IT sources.

Mammooty "cooperated fully with the officials", the sources said.

A large number of Mammooty fans had gathered at the airport to express solidarity with the actor when he arrived in Kochi with his wife from Chennai on Friday night. Some more searches will be conducted at his house in Chennai after the actor returns there, said R Mohan, additional director general, Income Tax.

"We have taken some documents pertaining to landed properties. It is too early to comment now. A final picture would emerge by Wednesday," he said.

IT Officials had on Friday raided the offices, residences, and business establishments of Mammooty and Mohanlal at various places in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Bangalore and Udhagamandalam (Ooty).

Mohanlal, who is in Rameshwaram in connection with a shoot, would be questioned at Chennai on July 25 and in Kochi on July 26, Mohan said.

The two actors were under the IT scanner for the past few months and the raids, as per Section 132 of the Income Tax Act (related to search and seizure), came after 'specific information' that they had wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income, the sources said.