India Launches Tax Investigation Against BBC Over Criticism of Prime Minister Modi

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Indian tax authorities raided the BBC New Delhi bureau on the 14th (local time) after airing a documentary criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

AFP reported this citing a BBC reporter who was on the scene. The reporter said the police blocked the entrance of the office located in central New Delhi and conducted a search and seizure. The income tax-related search and seizure took place several weeks after the broadcast, and even employees' phones were confiscated.

Last month, BBC aired a two-part documentary claiming that Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002, instructed the police to overlook communal riots that occurred locally.

At least 1,000 people died in the violence at that time. Most of them were Muslims, a minority group in India.

The Indian government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to the documentary immediately after it was broadcast. It also condemned the content as "hostile propaganda and anti-Indian garbage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.