Actor Rakul Preet Singh has denied reports linking her to recent Income Tax searches in Mumbai. In an Instagram statement on October 5, she called the reports ‘false, malicious and speculative’.

‘The search was not pertaining to me,’ she wrote. The actor said she has paid her taxes since the age of 20 and comes from an Armed Forces background with no industry godfather.

She denied any involvement in illegal foreign remittances, either personally or on behalf of a production house. She also denied holding benami property in India or abroad.

The searches were conducted at about 12 Mumbai premises linked to her father-in-law, producer Vashu Bhagnani, and Panorama Studios. Officials are examining alleged routing of funds overseas under the guise of film financing, according to first reports.

Rakul urged outlets that carried the claims to retract them. The Income Tax Department has not issued a formal statement on the findings of the operation.