Amala Paul has been said to have evaded taxes to the tune of Rs. 20 lacs by registering in Puducherry the Mercedes Benz that she had bought in August. While she mostly uses the Benz in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the same has reportedly been registered in the name of a student from Puducherry, where the taxes are lower. The police investigation is on.

Meanwhile, the actress has responded on the issue:

"I am in a state of shock over the way an age-old publication, formed on nationalist principles by freedom fighters of the Malabar region, is resorting to shallow ways to increase its circulation and garner public attention.

I am an Indian citizen and have always assumed that I have every right to work and own any asset throughout the nation freely. But now, this self-proclaimed socio-reformist newspaper, which has lost the meaning of its own 'motherland' and its own history, has decided to play a divisive regionalist propaganda by making the innocent local readers believe that their state is somehow separate from the country.

I have worked in Tamil cinema as much as I have in Malayalam cinema. So, let me rationalize my assets in both the states. Should I seek their consent before I work in Telugu cinema or own an asset in Bengaluru? Last time I checked, the currency in use in Bengaluru is the same as rest of India's.

Due to the efforts of great men over the decades, we finally have a sense of unity in our diverse nation. At a time when the Government has brought the country under a single tax regime, I humbly request them to stop dividing people. I sincerely hope a day will come when our future generations will not be Keralites, Tamilians, Punjabis or Gujaratis but just Indians."