Key Points:
Sonu Sood was awarded the Humanitarian Award at the 72nd Miss World Festival in Telangana in 2025 for his work during the Covid 19.
In February 2025, Sonu Sood was summoned as a witness in a Rs 10 lakh fraud case involving the “Rijika coin scheme
In 2021, the Income Tax Department accused Sood of evading Rs 20 crore and misusing SOOD Charity Foundation fund
The lives of Bollywood celebrities and controversies oftentimes go hand in hand. Sometimes, the quarrels in their personal life are in the limelight. But there are other times when their involvement in scams and illegal businesses takes over the course of their life.
Occasionally, their lives get defined by the controversies they were involved in, which often leads to disregarding every other good deed they have done. Indian actor Sonu Sood, who is praised for his charity work, has also been associated with a fraud case and an Income Tax raid in the past.
Actor-producer Sonu Sood did not just engrave his name as a talented figure in Indian cinema. He has also become a prominent face for charity work and philanthropy after Covid-19. Many social welfare works done by Sood during the corona period even earned him the prestigious Humanitarian Award at the 72nd Miss World Festival in Telangana in 2025.
See Also: Sonu Sood Helps 65-year-old From Bihar to Clear Rs 12 Lakh Debt
In a shocking turn of events, and beyond his good deeds and philanthropy work, the actor’s name has been attached as a witness in a Rs 10 Lakh fraud scheme in February 2025. His previous brush with the Income Tax in 2021 for allegedly evading Rs 20 crore has also left a dark spot on his public image.
Many people must be aware of who actor Sonu Sood is. But his work in charity and social welfare surpasses his popularity compared to his recent work in Hindi cinema. Sonu Sood is a popular Indian actor who has worked in multiple film industries including Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Sood has been widely recognized for his negative roles in films but is even more popular for his positive role in social service work in his real life. The stark contrast between reel and real has boosted the actor’s popularity and has made him a symbol of admiration among youth.
However, his name has appeared in a few controversies involving the Rs 10 Lakh investment fraud case in recent times.
In February 2025, the Ludhiana court issued an arrest warrant in the name of actor Sonu Sood. The warrant was issued against Sood because he failed to appear in court multiple times to give testimony in a Rs 10 Lakh fraud case.
The case was filed by a Ludhiana-based lawyer named Rajesh Khanna against the main accused, Mohit Shukla. According to Khanna, he was allegedly lured into investing Rs 10 Lakh in a “Rijika coin scheme.”
The scheme fraudulently claimed that the invested amount would be tripled but failed to deliver any of the promised results. Khanna stated that actor Sonu Sood was the brand ambassador of the scheme and therefore, he must testify in court.
See Also: Sonu Sood once again saved a life of a Bihar child, parents express gratitude
Sood was summoned as a witness but failed to appear, which prompted the court to issue an arrest warrant against him. The court ordered the Oshiwara police station, Mumbai, to carry out the arrest.
On February 11, 2025, the Ludhiana court released Sonu Sood after he appeared as a witness via conference. Sood’s advocate, Ritesh Mohinra, argued that the actor is not the brand ambassador of the scheme and that he only attended an event sponsored by it.
In another incident, which occurred back in 2021, Sonu Sood was accused of evading Rs 20 crore in tax and misusing the funds of SOOD Charity Foundation. The Income Tax department carried out large-scale raids for four straight days on his properties in Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Jaipur, etc.
They claimed that the charity foundation raised nearly Rs 18.94 crore in donations but allegedly spent only Rs 1.94 crore, raising questions about the misuse of donations. The SOOD Charity Foundation, founded in 2020, is run by Sonu Sood and his younger sister, Malvika Sood. Malvika Sood joined the Indian National Congress (INC) and was a candidate from Moga in the 2022 Punjab Assembly Polls.
The foundation became the centre of focus during Covid-19 by engaging in numerous social work activities. The charity work ranged from providing oxygen cylinders to remote areas to helping migrant workers who were stuck far from their homes.
The actor even arranged transportation for the workers to return to their homes safely. After the news of the raid emerged, the actor responded to the allegations of tax evasion. He said that the officials were doing their duty. In an X post he wrote, “Every rupee in my foundation is awaiting its turn to save a precious life and reach the needy.”
A public figure like Sonu Sood is often considered an open book, with countless onlookers eager to peek into what the celebrity is doing. Any work or project they undertake, even if rooted in charity, attracts widespread attention. While Sood’s philanthropic efforts have earned him admiration, charity work demands the highest levels of integrity and probity, and must remain free from any association with unlawful scams or practices. [Rh/VS]
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