Madras High Court Drops Proceedings Against Film Producer Gautham Vasudev Menon

On April 06, 2026, Monday, the Madras High Court set aside a criminal prosecution started by the Income Tax Department against a film producer, director, and actor, Gautham Vasudev Menon. The case concerns a company named Photon Kathas Production Private Limited, which did not file its income tax returns (ITRs) for the Assessment Year 2013-14.

The Honourable Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan has accepted Mr Menon’s request to quash proceedings against him, which had been pending since 2023. The justice has clarified that the case has been set aside only for Mr Menon because he had already resigned on May 2, 2011, as a director of the film-production company. However, the case against the directors of the company other than him is still pending before the court.

An Additional District Court handling economic offence cases at Egmore in Chennai has also been directed to complete the trial in the case within the time period of three months. The petitioner claimed that the company was involved in the business of production and distribution of feature films and that it had multiple directors.

The Income Tax Department took legal action against the disputed company under Section 276C (wilful attempt to evade tax) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Along with the company, proceedings were also started against S. Venkatramanan, Mr Menon, T.S.T. Ramanujam, and Reshma Ghatala, being directors of the disputed company, on the ground of not furnishing the Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the year in consideration.

During the personal hearing, Ms Manivannan stated that Mr Menon was placed as a director of the film production company on June 01, 2010, and resigned from his role on May 02, 2011. A copy of Form 32 was also produced before the Registrar of Companies (ROC), informing about one of the directors’ resignation and also that the petitioner was not involved with the company during the relevant period of time.

Considering the aforementioned findings, the court directed the tax authorities to stop all proceedings against the petitioner, Gautham Vasudev Menon, since he was not involved with the disputed company during the relevant period.