NEW DELHI: The so-called IT Survey at the offices of Britain-based news broadcasting channel BBC on Thursday entered the 3rd day. As per sources, over 10 senior employees have not left the premises since the search began on February 14th.
Sources in the know revealed that taxmen are gathering data from staffers and made copies of the documents the news organization possessed. An employee on grounds of anonymity mentioned that their news channel was working like usual and publishing news. It added that most of the employees were instructed to work from home.
Meanwhile, the opposition has come heavily on the Modi govt for the search at the renowned media house that has clocked down 45 hours so far. Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister on Wednesday strongly condemned the raid saying, “I strongly condemn the arm twisting acts of @narendramodi led @BJP4India government to wage a war against honest journalism- a tweet on his handle read. “Ongoing raids on @BBCIndia by Income tax authorities are an attempt to intimidate news agencies that are critical of the BJP government,” the Congress leader added.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s past was exposed by the BBC, “he used investigation agencies as his ‘frontal organizations’ to raid an international media outlet”, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said. “This is particularly perturbing for India’s image because we are hosting the G-20 Summit and the Modi government is going gaga over it (G-20),” he added.
According to Delhi CM Kejriwal, this move was suppressing the voice of the media.