BBC India offices "surveyed" by IT sleuth, not raided; what are reasons for IT dept's move

A team of Income Tax Department sleuths carried out a 'survey' at the global media company BBC's Mumbai studios and their office in Delhi on Tuesday.

The BBC studio is situated in a commercial hub near the Bandra Kurla Complex in central Mumbai where offices of several national and multinational companies are also located.

The sleuths are understood to have seized the mobiles, laptops, tablets of the staffers present there, though exact details of the investigations by the central probe agency were not available.

A large number of media persons and photographers, besides many curious onlookers out for the lunch break, converged outside the studio building awaiting the nitty-gritties of the ITD operation inside the BBC studio.

Though no insiders were available for comments, the survey of the Mumbai studio is connected with an ongoing similar operation at the BBC offices in New Delhi, which sparked off a major political furore.

Following the survey operations by the Income Tax department, the BBC said that it was fully cooperating with the authorities.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the BBC said on Twitter.

Reasons for IT survey of BBC India

According to reports, the reasons for the IT survey at BBC India offices in Mumbai and Delhi are:

1. Non-compliance under transfer pricing rules
2. Persistent & deliberately violative of transfer pricing norms
3. Deliberate diversion of significant amount of profits & not following the arm's length arrangement in the case of allocation of profit

The Income Tax department officials reached the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) office in Delhi's Kasturba Gandhi Marg, said the sources.

The sources also said that the team reached there to verify documents and some of the employees were also asked to leave the office and go home. "Phones have also been seized," said the sources.

The All India Bar Association (AIBA) has congratulated the Income Tax Department for conducting surveys of BBC's documents to check irregularities relating to international taxation and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) transactions.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur, reacting to the backlash, said that "Income Tax Department conducts surveys from time to time where irregularities are found and when survey is completed, they give information. When this survey of IT will be completed, we'll give you all that information in detail."

IT "survey" condemned by journalists union

The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday expressed concern over the Income Tax (I-T) surveys at BBC India offices.

"This comes soon after the release of two documentaries by the BBC, on the 2002 violence in Gujarat and the current status of the minorities in India. The documentaries stirred political waters with the government criticising the BBC for wrong and prejudiced reportage on the Gujarat violence, and attempted to ban online access and viewing of the films in India," it said.

The guild said that the surveys by the I-T department is in continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organisations that are critical of government policies or the ruling establishment. "In September 2021, offices of NewsClick and Newslaundry were similarly "surveyed" by the I-T department.

The Press Club of India (PCI) also strongly condemned the income tax "surveys". 

In a statement, PCI said, "The 'surveys' are part of a series of attacks on the media by government agencies in recent times, especially against those sections of the media that the government perceives is hostile to it and critical of the ruling establishment.

"It is deeply unfortunate as this latest instance appears to be a clear cut case of vendetta, coming within weeks of a documentary aired by the BBC on the Gujarat riots."

Echoing similar sentiments, the Indian Journalists Union also condemned the IT survey of BBC India.