Tax officials said this was a survey, not a search
New Delhi:
Income Tax officials landed at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai this morning for searches, weeks after a huge controversy over the UK national broadcaster’s documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allegations linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The taxmen were carrying out a “survey” over allegations of international taxation and transfer pricing irregularities involving the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), said sources.
Around 20 tax officials searched the BBC’s Delhi office. In Mumbai, BBC Studios that deals with production was searched.
Documents were seized and phones and laptops of journalists were taken away, the sources said. The offices will be sealed for the duration of the survey and employees have been asked not to share details with anyone.
Tax officials said this was a survey, not a search, and that the phones would be returned.
“We needed some clarifications and for that our team is visiting BBC office and we are carrying out a survey. Our officers have gone to check account books, these are not searches,” Income Tax sources asserted.
Sources said the taxmen asked BBC’s finance department for details of its balance sheet and accounts.
BBC was in the news recently over the two-part series, “India: The Modi Question”, which was taken down from public platforms last month. On January 21, the Centre, using emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, directed blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary.
Opposition leaders and students who accused the government of blatant censorship organized public screenings of the documentary and students clashed with college authorities and the police at several colleges.
The opposition Congress accused the government of targeting BBC over the documentary critical of PM Modi.
“Here we are asking for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row, and there the government is hounding BBC. Vinash Kaale Viprit Buddhi (when one is doomed, one makes wrong decisions),” commented Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra jibed in a tweet: “Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC’s Delhi office. Wow, really? How unexpected.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too slammed the searches at the BBC offices, calling them the beginning of “ideological emergency”. “When a government stands for fear and oppression instead of fearlessness, then one should realise the end is near,” he said in a Hindi tweet.
Last week, the Supreme Court rejected a request for a complete ban on BBC in India over the documentary, calling the petition “entirely misconceived”.
