Tax officials target Indian stars

AR Rahman's home is one of those raided by tax officials

The homes of 20 stars of the Indian film industry have been raided by tax officials in the city of Madras.

They include the home of renowned composer AR Rahman, who wrote the music for the hit Bombay Dreams and the stage version of The Lord of the Rings.

Other celebrities include composers Yuvan Sankar Raja and Harris Jairaj and film stars Vikram, Vivek and Trisha.

Tax office sources say unaccounted for cash and jewellery worth millions of rupees was discovered during the raids.

Santosh Datta, chief Income Tax commissioner in Madras, said the raids were "basically to unearth unaccounted money".

"We (the department) acted on the basis of information and the whole process began about two months ago," he told reporters.

Some 300 tax inspectors were reported to have begun the raids early on Wednesday morning and were expected to continue through the night.

"Our raids are still on and you will soon come to know about others," Mr Datta said.

News of the raids on such well-known personalities has made headlines across India.

AR Rahman has sold more than 100 million albums, composing the soundtracks to more than 50 Bollywood films.