NEW DELHI: British public broadcaster BBC News has said it is cooperating with the Income Tax Department, which is 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 BBC News press team said in a statement. The British broadcaster added, “We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible”.
According to sources, IT officials were verifying certain account documents in the finance department of BBC. Earlier on Tuesday morning, Income Tax officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital’s KG Marg for the survey. The British broadcaster’s office at Kalina Santacruz in Mumbai was also surveyed, sources said, adding that the survey was limited to business premises of BBC only.
According to reports, a team of IT officials arrived at the BBC Studios office in Kalina Santacruz around 11.30 am and a survey has been going on since then. There is no IT activity at the BBC News office at Linking Road, Bandra West. It is learnt that the tax officials are conducting verification of certain account documents in the finance department of the BBC offices.
During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees present in the BBC office have been taken away by the Income Tax team. The data of the computers kept in the accounts and finance department was also scanned. According to sources, officials said the devices will be returned to their owners after taking a backup.
The searches come weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi — ‘India: The Modi Question’, which caused a controversy. On January 21, the Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi. The Supreme Court had, on February 3, directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. (ANI)