Income Tax Officials Raid BBC Offices in Delhi, Mumbai; Seize Phones and Laptops

Income Tax Officials Raid BBC Offices in Delhi, Mumbai; Seize Phones and Laptops

New Delhi: On Tuesday, the Income Tax Department carried out a survey at the offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Delhi and Mumbai as a part of an inquiry into suspected tax evasion. Documents were seized and phones and laptops of journalists were taken away. Employees were asked not to call anyone.

The BBC News said that it is providing complete cooperation to the Income Tax Department, which is currently conducting a survey at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating," the British broadcaster said on Twitter. "We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," it added.

The Income Tax officials' visit to the BBC offices comes less than a month after the release of a two-part documentary, 'India: The Modi Question', which was labeled as 'propaganda' by the Indian government. A Central Board of Direct Taxes official confirmed that the officials were conducting a survey, not a raid, at the BBC's New Delhi office.

Another official stated that the department was probing specific issues related to the BBC based on reliable inputs of potential irregularities. The survey was being conducted to investigate these anomalies, and only after its completion, it would be determined if any intentional irregularities had occurred.