Six employees, including one of the directors of BBC India, have been questioned so far, officials said. In February, the I-T Department had carried out surveys at BBC premises over what it alleged was ‘non-compliance’ with transfer pricing rules and vast diversion of profits.
The move is weeks after the income tax department ‘surveyed’ UK’s renowned public broadcaster’s offices in India. The ‘surveys’ were slammed globally as they were seen to be linked with a BBC documentary on the Gujarat violence of 2002, when Narendra Modi was CM.
Amid a crackdown on ‘Waris Punjab De chief and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh, the Twitter account of BBC News Punjabi language was withheld in India by authorities.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly raised the issue of the BBC s tax obligations during a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Delhi on Wednesday.