IT 'survey' of BBC office enters 3rd day, several employees haven't been home since Tuesday
New Delhi: The IT ‘survey’ of the BBC office in Delhi on Thursday entered the third day and all staff required for the broadcasting services as well as several senior employees have been staying in the office since the operations began, media reports said.
According to an India Today report, the staff involved in delivering television and radio and bulletins, have been working from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Delhi office since the income tax department started survey operations.
The IT ‘survey’ of BBC offices comes close on the heels of a ban on a BBC documentary on the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
According to officials, the IT survey was initiated in connection with alleged irregularities in international taxation and transfer pricing involving the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).
At least 10 senior employees of the news organization haven’t left office since the IT Department officials initiated their survey at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai around 11:30 am on Tuesday, reported NDTV.
The operation has been continuing for more than 45 hours now, officials said, adding that the survey will continue for some more time and the time frame to call the operation closed rests with the IT teams involved, the report said.
The tax officials gathered financial data from employees and made copies of documents of the news organization. Media reports said the tax officials confiscated phones and laptops during the operation.
On Tuesday, the offices were sealed for the ‘survey’ and employees were asked not to call anyone, media reports said.
According to the NDTV report, several staffers are working from home amid the IT ‘survey’.
The officials insisted that the IT Department is only conducting a survey and not a search and the phones of the journalists will be returned.
The two-part series, "India: The Modi Question", was taken down from public platforms last month.
The Central government used emergency powers under IT Rules to cut off the BBC series link shared by some YouTube and Twitter accounts.
The government slammed the documentary as "hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage".
Meanwhile, the Opposition slammed the BJP-led Centre over the IT survey of the offices of the national broadcaster of the UK, terming it a "political vendetta".
Reacting to I-T officials reaching the BBC offices for a survey, Congress tweeted, "The government is after the BBC while here we demand a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) on the Adani matter."
Rubbishing the criticisms, the BJP reminded the Congress that Indira Gandhi, too, had gone a step ahead and banned the BBC in India. "Congress should remember former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had banned BBC."
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