India’s government is using the taxman against its opponents

SONU SOOD is nothing if not gracious. The square-jawed he-man of such features as “Tutak Tutak Tutiya” (2016) and “Kung Fu Yoga” (2017) says that when tax inspectors stormed his house, he tried to make it the best possible experience for them. When the uninvited guests left three days later, having kept the 48-year-old actor’s family locked inside and taken their phones and personal papers, he told them he would miss them. The taxmen were less kind. They say Mr Sood is enmeshed in a web of “bogus” dealings, has collected foreign donations without the proper licences and owes $2.7m in taxes.