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New Delhi: The survey of the Income Tax Department has been completed in the Delhi-Mumbai office of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). This campaign lasted for about 60 hours. Giving official information, the Income Tax Department said that the formalities of some signatures are going on. After assessing the survey in a day or two, the IT team can share any official information. What has come out in the survey now cannot be cleared at this stage.
During the survey, officials collected financial data from select employees and made copies of the news organization’s electronic and paper records. Sources said the Income Tax Department started the ‘survey operation’ at around 11.30 am on Tuesday at BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of its probe into alleged tax evasion and ended in Delhi tonight.
Officials said that the tax officials have made an inventory of the available stock, recorded statements of some employees and seized some documents as part of the survey action.
He told that this survey lasted for about 60 hours. He had said that the survey teams are seeking answers on financial transactions, company structure and other details about the news company and are copying data from electronic devices to collect evidence.
Opposition parties have condemned the Income Tax Department action against the BBC, calling it “political vendetta”. Significantly, this surprise action came a few weeks after the BBC aired a two-part documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’. A heated political debate has started between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition parties regarding this survey. The timing of the action has been questioned by the opposition, while the BJP accused the BBC of “poisonous reporting” against India.
This action of IT Survey on BBC has happened after some time after the controversial documentary of BBC. In this documentary, PM Modi is accused of making controversial remarks and tarnishing his image. Congress and other opposition parties allege that this action of raiding BBC has been taken because of raising questions on PM Modi in this documentary. At the same time, the government has not yet issued any official statement on this issue.
