Bollywood heroine Karisma Kapoor.

MUMBAI, July 28: Bollywood heroine Karisma Kapoor's hush-hush visit to Hyderabad Estate on Friday evening sent ripples throughout the income-tax department, all the way up to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Delhi, on Monday.

Following the Express Newsline report that Karisma went calling to the `E' wing of Hyderabad Estate where senior income-tax officials live, CBDT made discreet enquiries and reportedly called for the facts of the case from senior officials in Mumbai.

Though Ravi Kant, chairman CBDT, told this paper in New Delhi that no enquiry was ordered into the incident, it was learnt that senior officers in Mumbai had a lot of explaining to do through the day. Ravi Kant said the report was brought to his notice but denied comment on whether it was unusual that a person under investigation for alleged tax evasion should visit senior officers of the department at their home.

In Mumbai, Chief Commissioner (Income-Tax), V M Muthuramalingam, who lives in the `E' wing of Hyderabad Estate, categorically told Newsline that the actress did not visit his house. According to our sources also, Karisma was not scheduled to visit Muthuramalingam.While other senior officers there were not contactable, Karisma, now shooting in London, remained incommunicado for the third day today.

Newsline had carried a report on Monday about the unusual visit of Karisma to Hyderabad Estate along with a picture of her arriving there. Karisma was one of the many Bollywood personalities who was raided by the income-tax department on December 18 last year and has since been under investigation for a house she acquired in Lokhandwala.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.