UK ‘Closely Monitoring’ Income Tax Surveys at BBC's India Offices

New Delhi: The UK government took note of the reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the British public broadcaster BBC in India and said they are monitoring it. "We are closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India," sources in the UK government said. BBC News too said it was cooperating with the Income Tax department, which is conducting a survey at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. "The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating," the BBC News Press Team said in a statement.

Earlier this morning, Income tax officials arrived at BBC offices located at the national capital`s KG Marg for the survey. The British broadcaster`s office at Kalina Santacruz in Mumbai was also surveyed, sources said adding that the survey was limited to business premises of BBC only.

According to reports, a team of IT officials arrived at the BBC Studios office in Kalina Santacruz around 11.30 am today and a survey has been going on since then. There is no IT activity at the BBC News office at Linking road Bandra West.

It is learnt that the tax officials are conducting verification of certain account documents in the finance department of the BBC offices.

During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees present in the BBC office have been taken away by the Income Tax team. The data of the computer kept in the accounts and finance department was also scanned. 

According to sources, officials said the devices will be returned to their owners after taking a backup. The searches come weeks after the BBC released a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi - `India: The Modi Question," which caused controversy.

On January 21, the Centre issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi. The Supreme Court had on February 3 directed the central government to produce original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary.