Was Sonu Sood’s ostentatious PR campaign during Covid a mere strategy to evade legal action?

The Income Tax Department conducted searches at actor Sonu Sood’s properties on Wednesday and Thursday, and dubbed them as “IT surveys”. Sood’s fans are livid, for how can the Income Tax department dare conduct searches at the properties of a good Samaritan like Sood, who has helped thousands, if not lakhs of people throughout the pandemic? The survey by the tax officials was conducted at six premises linked to the actor in Mumbai. According to sources quoted by India Today, the tax officials went through the account books, income generated, expenditure and other financial records of  Sood and other entities linked to him.

Meanwhile, according to NDTV, the IT department is probing Sonu Sood‘s property deal with a Lucknow-based real estate company. It is being claimed the recent deal between Sonu Sood’s company and a Lucknow-based real estate firm is under investigation. The department initiated the survey of Sood’s account books and properties following allegations of tax evasion on this deal.

Sonu Sood’s Social Work

Sonu Sood arranged buses, trains and even flights to take hundreds of migrants, stranded and helpless in the lockdown, to their home state. During the second wave earlier this year, he organised oxygen for Covid patients. Sonu Sood also runs an NGO called Sood Charity Foundation. According to its website, the NGO works in sectors like providing state-of-the-art healthcare, education, employment and technology advancements.

Also read: Ganjam DM exposes Sonu Sood as actor gets caught lying about getting a hospital bed for home-isolated patient

There is no denying the fact that Sonu Sood might have helped few individuals during the pandemic and props need to be given for that. However, by milking a humanely gesture to resuscitate his sleepy film career, and publish gloating autobiographies, Sonu tarnished his image, as explained by TFI earlier.

Moreover, the IT department conducting a survey of Sonu Sood’s dealings over allegations of tax evasion only further damages the actor’s image as a social worker. In fact, it shows that Sonu Sood might just have been engaging in social work for shoring up his image and building up a support base.

Sonu’s Social Work – An Admission of Guilt?

The façade of Sonu Sood, the supposed messiah of the weaklings of the society has been peeling off for quite some time now. After gaining traction and truckloads of publicity during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bollywood actor resorted to simply leveraging his reach to multiply his popularity — often using his PR team to boast about himself.

Read more: Sonu Sood is a credit-hungry, self-praising, jobless actor who needs to be condemned by everybody

However, it seems that the social work done by Sonu Sood was, in fact, an effort by the man to deflect attention from his purported criminalities and build a network of supporters for himself, who would fanatically support him no matter what he is accused of. Sonu Sood knew that for his alleged illegal activities, the law would soon catch up with him. Therefore, he seems to have engaged in an extensive PR campaign to project himself as the biggest social worker of India who helped lakhs of people during the Covid-19 pandemic since last year.

The PR campaign waged by Sood has worked wonders for him. For instance, social media is rife with Sood’s supporters outraging against the IT department for conducting surveys at his properties. Sonu Sood can now project public opinion as being on his side. Sood actually seems to have insulated himself, although in the face of evidence against him (if any), the man’s entire network of supporters will fall flat on its face.