New Delhi, February 15, 2023 (PPI-OT):Indian Tax Department officials continued their raids on the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai offices on the second consecutive day, today (Wednesday). The raids come weeks after the BBC aired a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in deadly anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002. The broadcaster has issued a fresh mail to its employees, asking them to cooperate with the officials. The mail from BBC read, “All employees to cooperate in the ongoing ‘surveys’. All employees should support IT survey officials and answer their questions comprehensively.”

“Employees can refrain from answering questions on personal income if asked so. They should answer other salary-related queries,” it stated. “Only the broadcast department to come to the office, other employees to continue working from home,” it read. The Income Tax department had launched the action on Tuesday at the BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai offices.

Last month, the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary detailing how Modi ordered police to turn a blind eye to anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat state, where he was chief minister at the time. The violence left over 2,000 Muslims dead. The Modi government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to the documentary using emergency powers under its information technology laws.

The Supreme Court of India last week dismissed a plea seeking the imposition of a complete ban on the BBC in India in the wake of the documentary, terming the petition “entirely misconceived” and “absolutely meritless”.

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