VIDEO: Income tax officers conduct 'survey' operations at BBC's Delhi, Mumbai offices

Gulf Today Report

Income tax department officials on Tuesday conducted "survey" operations at BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices, according to sources.

The development came just weeks after the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) released a two-part documentary titled 'India: The Modi Question' on the 2002 Gujarat riots.

In Mumbai, the sleuths are understood to have seized the mobiles, laptops, tablets of the staffers present there, though exact details of the investigations by the central probe agency were not available.

The BBC studio is situated in a commercial hub near the Bandra Kurla Complex in central Mumbai where offices of several national and multinational companies are also located.

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A large number of mediapersons and photographers, besides many curious onlookers out for the lunch break, converged outside the studio building awaiting the nitty-gritty of the ITD operation inside the BBC studio.

In Delhi, the Income Tax officials reached the BBC office at Kasturba Gandhi Marg, said the sources.

Reports quoting sources said the employees working in the afternoon shift at the BBC's Delhi office were asked to work from home, while those present in the office were asked to leave early.

A police vehicle is seen parked at the gate of a building which houses BBC office, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday. AP

According to reports, the employees of the broadcasting corporation were asked not to use their computer systems and phones, including their personal ones.

The sources also said that the team reached there to verify documents.

A spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the broadcaster of engaging in "anti-India propaganda" but said the action was lawful and the timing had nothing to do with the government.

"India is a country which gives an opportunity to every organisation," Gaurav Bhatia told reporters, "as long as you don't spew venom."

According to Agence France-Presse, police sealed off the BBC's New Delhi office, which occupies two floors of a high-rise on a leafy avenue in the capital's commercial heart.

Half a dozen officers were stationed outside to prevent people from entering or leaving and a New Delhi-based BBC employee said that officials had been "confiscating all phones."

An official at the scene declined to disclose their department but said: "There is government procedure happening inside the office."

India's Income Tax Department could not be reached for comment by AFP, but the BJP's Bhatia said: "If you have been following the law of the country, if you have nothing to hide why be afraid of an action that is according to the law?"

The Congress on Tuesday termed the Income Tax department's survey operations at the BBC office as an 'act of intimidation' and said the government was scared of criticism, according to Indo-Asian News Service.

Party General Secretary K.C. Venugopal said, "The I-T raid at BBC's offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism."

"We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer," he added.