Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: A team of Income Tax officials raided the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai simultaneously on Tuesday. According to sources the raid (in officially described as survey) was related to allegations of International Taxation and Transfer Pricing irregularities.
As per reports the department is looking at documents related to the business operations of the company and those related to its Indian arm.
In a tweet, the BBC said that they were “fully cooperating” with the tax authorities now in their New Delhi and Mumbai offices. “We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.”
Talking to the media about the I-T “Survey” Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesman of the ruling BJP said that the BBC “must work within India laws” and accused the media house for “corrupt” practices. Bhatia further alleged that “The BBC’s work has historically been tainted with its hatred for India,” and added “Our constitution allows them to do unbiased journalism, but let me show you how they use journalism as a pretext to put forward their agenda.”
However Congress is highly critical of the I-T raid and termed it “imbecile, childish & beyond even silly,” in a tweet. Senior Congress leader and a former Information Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwari said “As hosts of G-20 what are we telling the world that rather than an emerging great power we are an insecure power.”
Editors Guild of India, an influential national body of senior journalists also slammed the I-T raid at the BBC offices. In a tweet EGI said “EGI is deeply concerned about the IT “surveys” being carried out at the offices of BBC India. Is distressed by the continuing trend of government agencies being used to intimidate and harass news organizations that are critical of ruling establishment.” The journalist body further cautioned that “this is a trend that undermines constitutional democracy.”
According to media reports two teams of I-T officials having two dozen members each raided the BBC offices in Mumbai and Delhi simultaneously.
The news of the I-T “survey” in the BBC offices hit the headlines of Western Media and they attribute the I-T operation as the “reaction” against the recent BBC film- “India: The Modi Question,”.
