While Katrina was present at a Bandra bookstore for the launch of a novel by Pritish Nandy and Kamala Das, Priyanka attended an award show at the MMRDA grounds at Bandra Kurla Complex.
Both actresses seemed to have found their stride and their voice, hitting out against the several unconfirmed reports doing the rounds about claims of spectacular seizures made by the I-T department.
Agency reports on Thursday indicated that an unaccounted Rs 6 crore had been found at Priyanka Chopra's residence. Reacting almost immediately, a spokesperson of the actress said, "We deny the many malicious rumours being spread in the media on the basis of some unidentified sources.
We are extending all cooperation to the Income Tax authorities in their ongoing investigations and are restraining ourselves from commenting any further on the issue pending completion of the investigative process."
A senior I-T official told Mumbai Mirror that while prima facie there were definitely some doubts about some documents which indicated that an amount close to Rs 6 crore could be unaccounted for, it was much too early to categorically declare it tax evasion.
"First of all, no unaccounted cash was seized from her residence. And if there are some purchases - or documents related to some purchases - which were detected and there is no immediate clarity about the source of funds for them, the matter will have to be investigated further.
Even Priyanka will be given a chance to prove bona fides. This is an ongoing process and we cannot jump to conclusions at this point," said the official.
Earlier in the day, a terse statement was issued by Katrina Kaif's chartered accountants. "A search was conducted by the Income Tax Dept at the residence of my client Ms Katrina Kaif. My client is disturbed by the speculative reports circulating in the media that she has disclosed unaccounted income running into crores and unaccounted lockers were found.
The fact of the matter is that no unaccounted income has been declared by her. Katrina is fully cooperating with the IT Dept, whom she holds in high regard," the statement said.
