Indian tax authorities raided BBC’s New Delhi offices on Tuesday, weeks after it aired a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in deadly anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002.
Police sealed off the building and half a dozen officers were stationed outside the office to prevent people from entering or leaving. A BBC employee based in the office told the media that the tax raid was in progress and that officials were “confiscating all phones”.
“There is government procedure happening inside the office,” an official said, declining to disclose their department. Last month, the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary detailing how Modi ordered police to turn a blind eye to anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat state, where he was chief minister at the time. The violence left at least 2,000 people dead, most of them minority Muslims. India’s government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to the documentary using emergency powers under its information technology laws. Government adviser Kanchan Gupta had slammed the documentary as “hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage”.—Agencies
