Tax authorities search BBC‍‍`s Indian offices weeks after Modi documentary aired

Officials from India’s Income Tax department began conducting searches Tuesday at the BBC’s offices in the country’s capital, New Delhi, three of the broadcaster’s staff members told the Associated Press.

While NDTV reported that the tax officials also seized phones and laptops from both Delhi and Mumbai offices.

The taxmen sealed off the offices for a "survey" linked to alleged irregularities in international taxation and transfer pricing involving the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), said sources.

Documents were seized and phones and laptops of journalists were taken away, the sources said. The offices were sealed for the "survey" and employees were asked not to call anyone.

The search comes weeks after the British broadcaster released a controversial documentary that examined Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots.

Teams from the tax department surveyed the BBC‍‍`s Delhi and Mumbai offices, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting officials who were not identified.

India banned the two-part documentary “India: The Modi Question” last month and authorities scrambled to halt screenings of the program and restrict clips of it on social media in a move that critics and political opponents decried as an assault on press freedom.

India’s Foreign Ministry called the documentary a “propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative” that lacked objectivity.”

The BBC in a statement had said the documentary was “rigorously researched” and involved a wide range of voices and opinions.

“We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series — it declined to respond,” the statement said.