BBC offices in India have been raided by tax department officials, just weeks after the release of a documentary critical of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, which was later blocked by the government.
According to those working at the broadcaster, more than a dozen officials from the country’s income tax department turned up at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, where hundreds of employees are based, to conduct a “survey”. Documents and phones of several journalists were taken and the offices sealed.
Officers told local media the searches on Tuesday morning were part of a tax evasion investigation into the business operations of the BBC in India and several accounts and financial files were seized.
The BBC said it was fully cooperating with the raids, with some employees still in the offices on Tuesday evening. “Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries,” it said. “We are supporting our staff during this time and continue to hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Our output and journalism continues as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India.”
The UK government has so far declined to comment on the raids, although a Foreign Office official said they had spoken to the BBC. The BBC has previously been reluctant to seek formal political support when it comes to such incidents in an attempt to make clear it is separate from the British state.
The raids come as the BBC is at the centre of a controversy in India over a two-part documentary series, ‘India: The Modi Question’, which focused on the role that Modi, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat, played in violent Hindu-Muslim riots that ripped through his state in 2002 and left more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead.
The BBC said it was fully cooperating with the raids, with some employees still in the offices on Tuesday evening. “Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries,” it said. “We are supporting our staff during this time and continue to hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Our output and journalism continues as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India.”
The UK government has so far declined to comment on the raids, although a Foreign Office official said they had spoken to the BBC. The BBC has previously been reluctant to seek formal political support when it comes to such incidents in an attempt to make clear it is separate from the British state.
The raids come as the BBC is at the centre of a controversy in India over a two-part documentary series, ‘India: The Modi Question’, which focused on the role that Modi, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat, played in violent Hindu-Muslim riots that ripped through his state in 2002 and left more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead.
