India tax department raids BBC Delhi office

Indian tax authorities raided the BBC's New Delhi offices on Tuesday, a journalist at the broadcaster told AFP, weeks after it aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“There's income tax raid in office, they're confiscating all phones,” the employee said.

Police were at the BBC's office in the centre of the capital to prevent people from entering or leaving, an AFP journalist at the scene saw.

“There is government procedure happening inside the office,” an official said, declining to disclose their department.

Last month the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary alleging that Modi, premier of Gujarat state at the time, ordered police to turn a blind eye to sectarian riots there in 2002.

The violence left at least 1,000 people dead, most of them members of the country's Muslim minority.

India's government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to the documentary soon after its release, calling it “hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage”.

University student groups then organised viewings of the documentary, despite campus bans, to defy government efforts to stop its airing.