India tax department raids BBC Delhi office: journalist

Indian tax authorities raided the BBC’s New Delhi places of work on Tuesday, a journalist on the broadcaster instructed AFP, weeks after it aired a documentary essential of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“There’s an revenue tax raid in workplace, they’re confiscating all telephones,” the worker stated.

Police had been on the BBC’s workplace within the centre of the capital to forestall individuals from getting into or leaving, an AFP journalist on the scene noticed.

“There may be authorities process taking place contained in the workplace,” an official stated, declining to reveal their division.

Final month the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary alleging that Modi, premier of Gujarat state on the time, ordered police to show a blind eye to sectarian riots there in 2002.

The violence left a minimum of 1,000 individuals lifeless, most of them members of the nation’s Muslim minority.

India’s authorities blocked movies and tweets sharing hyperlinks to the documentary quickly after its launch, calling it “hostile propaganda and anti-India rubbish”.

College scholar teams then organised viewings of the documentary, regardless of campus bans, to defy authorities efforts to cease its airing.