London: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Tuesday said the Indian income tax authorities were at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and that it was fully cooperating with them.
The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, officials said in New Delhi.
"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the press office of the BBC tweeted.
The surprise action comes weeks after BBC aired a two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question", which chronicled the events that transpired during the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of the state.
The government had dismissed the docu-series as a ‘propaganda piece’ and ordered a ban on the documentary on social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube.
According to the officials, the surveys were conducted to ascertain some ‘irregularities ‘ in certain matters related to BBC. Reports stated that the searches at the BBC offices were related to allegations of International Taxation and Transfer Pricing irregularities.
As the news spread, media persons, photographers and curious onlookers were seen outside the BBC office at central Delhi's Kasturba Gandhi Marg.
In Mumbai, a team of Income Tax Department sleuths carried out a 'survey' at the global media conglomerate BBC's Mumbai studios in the afternoon. The BBC studio is situated in a commercial hub near the Bandra Kurla Complex where offices of several national and multinational companies are also located.
As part of a survey, the I-T Department only covers the business premises of a company and does not raid residences and other locations of its promoters or directors.
Earlier BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had said that ‘BBC indulges in anti-India propaganda’. ‘India is a country which gives an opportunity to every organisation... as long as you don't spew venom’, he had said.
Terming the London-headquartered public broadcaster ‘the most corrupt" organisation in the world, Bhatia said that the Congress should remember that prime minister Indira Gandhi had also banned BBC.
Congress termed the survey operation at the BBC offices as ‘intimidation tactics' saying that Modi government feared criticism. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that while the party is demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe on the Gautam Adani issue, the “government is after the BBC”.
The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday also expressed concern over the Income Tax surveys at BBC offices.
The guild said that the surveys by the I-T department is in continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organisations that are critical of government policies or the ruling establishment.
"In September 2021, offices of NewsClick and Newslaundry were similarly "surveyed" by the I-T department. In June 2021, there were surveys against Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar.
In February 2021, the ED had conducted raids at the office of NewsClick. In each case, the raids and surveys were against the backdrop of critical coverage of the government establishment by the news organisations," it added.
"Further, the Guild reiterates its earlier demand that governments ensure that such investigations are conducted within the prescribed rules and that they don't degenerate into instruments of harassment to intimidate independent media," the Editors Guild of India said in a statement.