New Delhi, Feb 17: The so-called “Survey” by the Income Tax Department at BBC’s office has finally come to an end after clocking nearly 60 hours. IT officers have collected financial details of a few staff and have cloned the electronic data.
IT officers were spotted carrying some bags with them while leaving the Delhi BBC office at around 10 PM on Thursday night. The “Survey” began at 11.30 AM on Tuesday.
“ Tax authorities have taken an inventory of the available stock, recorded the statement of some staffers and have impounded some documents as part of the survey action that continued for three days clocking about 57-58 hours,” officials said.
In a press statement, BBC have said “Income Tax Authorities have left out offices in Delhi and Mumbai. We will continue to cooperate with the authorities and hope matters are resolved as soon as possible. We are supporting staff- some of whom have faced lengthy questioning or been required to stay overnight -and their welfare is our priority. Our output is back to normal and we remain committed to serving our audiences in India and beyond,” the BBC said.
The survey was carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, they had said.
The Supreme Court last week dismissed a plea seeking the imposition of a complete ban on the BBC in India in the wake of the controversial documentary, terming the petition “entirely misconceived” and “absolutely meritless”.
Another set of petitions challenging the government’s decision to block the documentary’s access on social media platforms will be heard in April. On January 21, the government had issued directions to block multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the documentary.
