In the wake of the BBC’s controversial documentary on Prime Minister Modi, IT officials raided the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday. It seems that during these attacks, the mobile phones of the staff were confiscated and they were asked to go home. The raids are believed to have taken place in response to allegations that the office in the Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai was involved in various irregularities by obstructing the international tax system and indulging in fraud in transfer pricing.
At the same time, Jairam Ramesh, a senior leader of the Congress party tweeted on this and complained that first the BBC documentary was banned and now the IT officials are raiding the BBC offices. It was described as an undeclared emergency.
He commented that if they are demanding an investigation by the JPC into the Adani dispute, the government has followed the BBC. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also reacted similarly. It is remarkable that these attacks happened when Adani was having a chit-chat with the chairman of the company in the Sebi office.
It seems that the IT department has suddenly embarked on raids in the wake of allegations that BBC offices have avoided paying taxes. Officials seized important documents from these offices.