New Delhi:

Soon after Income Tax officials reached the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai for a “survey”, weeks after a huge controversy over the UK national broadcaster’s documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allegations linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots, opposition leaders took potshots at the Centre, and called the action ‘predictable’, ‘a sign of panic’, and a hint that ‘their end is near’.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, while taking a “how unexpected” jibe, linked it to allegations of the US-based short-seller Hindenburg group’s allegations of Adani group manipulating stocks. Snacks for Adani when he visits the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) office, she said. Ms Moitra has long been calling for the stock market regulator’s investigation into Adani group companies.

“Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC’s Delhi office

Wow, really? How unexpected. 

Meanwhile farsaan seva for Adani when he drops in for a chat with Chairman @SEBI_India office,” she tweeted.

Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC’s Delhi office

Wow, really? How unexpected.

Meanwhile farsaan seva for Adani when he drops in for a chat with Chairman @SEBI_India office.

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 14, 2023

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said while they are demanding a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Probe) probe into the Adani issue, the government is going after the BBC. “Vinash kale viprit buddhi (when one’s destruction is soon to come, they think unintelligently),” he said.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal, while condemning the action, said the ‘raid reeks of desperation’.

“The IT raid at BBC’s offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism.

We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer,” he tweeted.

The IT raid at BBC’s offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism.

We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer.

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) February 14, 2023

The searches are over allegations of international taxation and transfer pricing irregularities involving the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), said sources.

Around 20 tax officials searched the BBC’s Delhi office. In Mumbai, BBC Studios, that deals with production, was searched.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)