BBC raided in India
February 14, 2023
The BBC’s offices in India have been raided by tax officials, just weeks after airing a documentary critical of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, which was later blocked in India by the government.
More than a dozen officials from the country’s income tax department turned up at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, where hundreds of employees are based, to “conduct a survey”. Documents and phones were taken and the offices sealed.
Officers told local media that the raids were part of a tax evasion investigation. The BBC confirmed it was fully cooperating.
BBC documentary India: The Modi Question focused on the role that Modi, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat, played in violent Hindu-Muslim riots that ripped through his state in 2002 and left more than 1,000 people – mostly Muslims – dead.
The BBC documentary revealed that a British government document from the time had found Modi “directly responsible” for not stopping the killings of Muslims during the riots, and said the violence had “all the hallmarks of genocide”.
In India emergency laws were invoked to ban any links or clips of the documentary being shared on social media.