Indian tax authorities on Tuesday raided the offices of the British public broadcaster BBC in New Delhi, weeks after a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shown.
“The tax authorities are conducting searches in the office, all phones have been seized,” a BBC journalist from the New Delhi delegation, who asked not to be named, told France Presse.
At the same time, elements connected with security and the tax service remained outside the delegation, preventing entry and exit from the building.
“Government authorities (of India) are conducting procedures in the delegation,” another BBC official told the BBC on condition of anonymity.
British public television aired a two-episode documentary in January that said Modi, while he was Gujarat’s prime minister, ordered police to “turn a blind eye” during the 2002 religious clashes.
At that time, a wave of violence claimed the lives of at least a thousand people, most of whom belonged to the Muslim community, which was a minority in India.
The Government of India has ordered the blocking of images of the documentary, as well as messages spread by the social network Twitter about the same BBC programme.
The New Delhi leadership considered the documentary to be “hostile propaganda and anti-India nonsense”.
Although playback of the documentary was banned at the University of New Delhi, students organized screenings on campus against police orders.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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