India's tax department raids BBC offices in Delhi, Mumbai

NEW DELHI - Income tax department officials in India Tuesday raided offices of the United Kingdom's national broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in New Delhi and Mumbai, multiple media reports said.

According to the reports, the income tax officials arrived at the BBC offices for searches.

However, some reports quoting their sources said the tax officials carried out a "survey" over allegations of international taxation and transfer pricing irregularities involving the BBC.

"Documents were seized and phones and laptops of journalists were taken away," a local television news channel NDTV said. "The offices will be sealed for the duration of the survey and employees have been asked not to share details with anyone else."

The NDTV report quoted the tax officials as saying this was a survey, not a search, and that the phones would be returned.

"We needed some clarifications and for that our team is visiting the BBC offices and we are carrying out a survey. Our officers have gone to check account books, these are not searches," said NDTV report.

Another local media report quoting officials said they were looking into documents relating to the company's business operations in India.

The raid came weeks after the BBC aired a two-part documentary series on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which touched up Modi's role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, who was the chief minister of the state then.

India blocked the documentary film soon after its release last month by invoking emergency powers under information and technology laws, ordering social media companies to remove the series.

India's top court last week rejected a request for a complete ban on the BBC in India over the documentary, calling the petition "entirely misconceived".