Indian tax officials raided the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai offices on Tuesday, weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s actions during deadly communal riots in 2002.
Police sealed off the New Delhi office, which occupies two floors, and half a dozen officers were posted outside to prevent people from entering or leaving.
A BBC employee in New Delhi told AFP that tax raids were ongoing and that officers were “seizing all the phones”.
An official at the scene declined to reveal his department, saying: “The government process is going on inside the office.”
Another BBC employee based in Mumbai confirmed that the broadcaster’s offices in India’s commercial hub were also being raided.
India’s Income Tax Department could not be reached for comment by AFP.
Last month, the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary alleging that Hindu nationalist Modi ordered the police to turn a blind eye to communal riots in the state of Gujarat, where he was prime minister at the time.