The Income Tax Department has raided the Delhi office of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), located in Kasturba Gandhi Marg. The phones of employees have been seized. Employees have also been asked to leave the office and go home early. Over 100 employees, who were working in the morning shift, have been held back at the Delhi bureau office. The majority of them belong to editorial teams. Those in the afternoon shift at the Delhi office have been asked to work from home. During the raid, two people associated with BBC Urdu services as well as finance department officials were inside the office premises, according to sources.
The Income Tax Department’s Delhi team is also monitoring the BBC premises in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) area. BBC also has another Mumbai office in Khar, where employees were asked to go home. Employees are not allowed to enter the Mumbai office of the BBC at present due to the ongoing search. The Income Tax Department is carrying out searches across BBC premises over allegations of irregularities in international taxation and transfer pricing.
As part of this survey operation, the department is looking at documents pertaining to the business operations of the BBC and those related to its Indian arm. In the case of a survey operation, the IT Department only covers the business premises of a company and does not raid residences and other premises related to the directors or promoters of a company.
Sources told news agency ANI, “Income tax officials reached BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai offices today. They are doing verification of certain documents in the Account of Finance Department of the BBC. Department has impounded a few mobile phones and laptops/desktops of persons of the account and finance departments.”
The Congress party took a jibe at the Centre for IT raids on BBC premises. The Congress tweeted in Hindi, “First came the BBC documentary, it was banned. Now IT has raided BBC. Undeclared emergency.”
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh also took potshots at the current government and said, “Here, we are demanding a JPC in Adani’s case and there, the government is after BBC.”
TMC MP Mahua Moitra also took aim at the Narendra Modi-led Central government for an Income Tax raid at the Delhi office of the BBC.
Moitra tweeted, "Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC's Delhi office. Wow, really? How unexpected. Meanwhile, farsaan seva for Adani when he drops in for a chat with the SEBI chairman's office."
Congress Lok Sabha leader Gaurav Gogoi tweeted that Prime Minister Modi continues to show India's slide into authoritarianism and dictatorship at a time when India holds the G20 Presidency. Gogoi wrote, "At the time when India holds the Presidency of the G-20 nations, PM Modi continues to brazenly show India's slide into authoritarianism and dictatorship. Raids on BBC, the clean chit to Adani, tax cuts for rich, people's homes being bulldozed, inequality and unemployment on the rise."
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wrote on Twitter, "Cause and effect of raids on the BBC office is quite obvious. GoI is brazenly hounding those who speak the truth. Be it opposition leaders, media, activists, or anyone else for that matter. The gloves are off and there is a price one pays for fighting for the truth."
Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav called raids at BBC offices "a declaration of ideological emergency." Yadav tweeted, "The news of the BBC raid is a declaration of 'ideological emergency'."
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Amit Shah commented on the BBC documentary and said every time there are conspiracies against PM Narendra Modi, he emerges stronger and more popular. Shah told ANI, "The truth emerges despite a thousand conspiracies around it. They are after Modi since 2002. But every time, Modi Ji comes out stronger and more popular."
The BBC came into the news recently due to their contentious documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi– ‘India: The Modi Question’. The documentary charts Prime Minister Modi’s tenure as the Gujarat Chief Minister during the Gujarat riots in 2002. It also questioned his leadership during the riots.
The government ordered Twitter and YouTube to block any links to the documentary and forbade people from posting snippets on social media, invoking emergency powers under its information technology laws. It labeled the BBC’s documentary as a ‘propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative.’
The Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the documentary as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and exhibits a colonial attitude. Meanwhile, UK MP Bob Blackman said the BBC documentary is “completely exaggerated” and does not represent the views of the British government.
Blackman said while speaking to News18, “BBC does not represent views of the British government. The documentary is a hatchet job.” He added the documentary is a “result of poor journalism, is badly researched and completely unjustified.”
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