I-T officers raid BBC offices; phones seized, laptops scanned

BBC’s bureaus raided in New Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday

New Delhi: Income Tax officials searched the BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai offices today and seized phones and laptops, weeks after a massive controversy over the UK national broadcaster’s documentary on PM Narendra Modi and the deadly sectarian riots in Gujarat in 2002. The taxmen sealed off the offices for a “survey” linked to alleged diversion of profits and irregularities in transfer pricing involving the BBC. The survey will continue at least till tomorrow and the officials are expected to search all night at the offices. Sources say, the Income Tax authorities are checking account details dating as far back as 2012.

“The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible,” the BBC tweeted. The officials used the keyword “tax” to search for information on the desktops after asking employees to log in, a BBC journalist told sources.

All India Bar Asso Welcomes Tax Survey Of Bbc Offices

New Delhi (ANI): The All India Bar Association (AIBA) on Tuesday congratulated the Income Tax Department for conducting surveys of BBC’s documents to check irregularities relating to international taxation and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) transactions. Senior Advocate and Chairman of AIBA, Dr Adish C Aggarwala, in a statement, has welcomed the action of the Income Tax Department as earlier the AIBA has requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to order a 360-degree probe into the “international conspiracy” angle in BBC’s documentary on PM Narendra Modi. On January 22, amidst the row over British national broadcaster, BBC’s documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the AIBA demanded Home Ministry initiate a special investigation into the “international conspiracy” angle.

LEFT PARTIES SLAM CENTRE OVER RAIDS

New Delhi (PTI): CPI(M) hit out at the Centre over IT “raids” on BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, questioning if India remains the “mother of democracy”.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury also slammed the government for not accepting the opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani Group issue. CPI MP Binoy Viswam, on the other hand, said the “IT survey” was the attempt of a “frightened government” to “strangle” the voice of truth.

New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday accused the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) of unleashing “venomous” reporting against India and alleged that its propaganda and the Congress’ agenda go together. Hitting out at the London-headquartered public broadcaster, he said the BBC is the “most corrupt” organisation in the world and the Congress should remember that former prime minister Indira Gandhi had also banned the broadcaster. The BJP leader further claimed that the BBC has a “tainted and black history of working with malice against India”. “BBC propaganda and Congress agenda go together. Congress should remember that its own leader and former prime minister Indira Gandhi had imposed a ban on the BBC,” he said.

‘UNDECLARED EMERGENCY’: OPPOSITION CRITICISES CENTRE AFTER TAX SURVEY

New Delhi (Agencies): Opposition parties on Tuesday said that India was in a state of “undeclared emergency” after Income Tax Department officials conducted a “survey operation” at the Mumbai and Delhi offices of British broadcaster BBC. Tax officials told PTI that the operation was being carried out as part of a tax evasion investigation. In a survey, the Income Tax Department only searches the business premises of a company and not the homes and other locations of its promoters or directors. The government has used emergency powers available under the Information Technology Rules, 2021to issue directions to YouTube and Twitter to block clips of the documentary from being shared. The foreign ministry has described the documentary as “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative”. On Tuesday, the Congress said on its Twitter handle that an “undeclared emergency” prevailed in the country as the documentary has been banned in India, and now the Income Tax Department has taken action against the BBC.

40 CRPF jawans who died in that terror attack. The CRPF jawans, who were also on duty in Pulwama on February 14, 2019, said they miss their colleagues but their morale is high to take on the militants and end terrorism in Kashmir.

Delhi govt clears way for Executive Enclave for PM's new office

New Delhi: The Delhi government has granted permission to the Central Public Works Department to transplant trees from the site of the proposed Executive Enclave under the Central Vista project, officials said today.

The Executive Enclave will come up on the south side of South Block in plot number 36/38 in the high-security Lutyens' Delhi.

The Kejriwal government approved the proposal upon condition that the agency would take up 10-times compensatory plantation.

INDIAN-AMERICAN REPUBLICAN MAY RUN FOR US PREZ

Washington (PTI): Indi- an-American Republican and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is planning to announce his 2024 presidential bid, joining Nikki Haley who is set to launch her campaign on Wednesday.

Ramaswamy, 37, who is a millionaire and has been dubbed by the New Yorker magazine as the “CEO of Anti-Woke Inc.”, has, for the time being, embarked on test runs and fact-finding missions in the US State of Iowa where he has been addressing multiple events. He insisted his trip to Iowa and other prep work he is doing for a potential run are serious, the Politico reported on Monday, adding that he said: “this is not a play for attention.”

Dominance Among Governors In Eastern Up

Karnal (Haryana): Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented the President’s Colour award to Haryana police in Karnal on Tuesday. While addressing the event, Amit Shah remembered the soldiers killed in the 2019 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. Shah said, “In 2019, in a cowardly attack on CRPF jawans in Pulwama, 40 jawans were killed in the line of action.”

“The names of those 40 soldiers will always remain etched with golden letters in India’s history of bravery and sacrifice. Their sacrifice has a huge contribution to the country’s progress,” he said.

8 OF 19 INVOLVED IN PULWAMA ATTACK KILLED, 7 HELD: KASHMIR POLICE CHIEF

Srinagar: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar today said of the 19 terrorists involved in the attack in 2019, eight have been killed, seven arrested and four, including three Pakistanis, are still alive. Talking to the media persons after paying tributes to the fallen CRPF men in the dastardly attack, ADGP Kumar, said the security forces are after Jaish-eMuhammad and almost all their top commanders have been neutralised. “At present, the JeM only has 7-8 locals and 5-6 active Pakistanis, including Mossa Solaimani (wanted terrorist),” he said, adding that police are after them and they will be neutralised soon. He said the police are not only busting terror modules but are also cracking down on narco-terrorism and terror funding. “We have been able to recover Rs 41 lakh and recently in Baramulla, Rs 26 lakh was recovered,” he said.

CONGRESS LEADER RAHUL GANDHI PAYS TRIBUTE TO MARTYRED SOLDIERS

New Delhi (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on the fourth anniversary of Pulwama terror attack, on Tuesday paid tribute to the soldiers who laid down their lives in the deadly terror attack on their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir. “A heartfelt tribute to the brave martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack. India will always remember his supreme sacrifice,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter.

India considers all nations as equal partners: Def min Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: India does not believe in giving “sermons or cut-anddried” solutions to countries in need of assistance, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said. In an address to his counterparts from various countries at Aero India, Singh also called for united efforts to counter pressing security challenges, including the threat of terrorism. The defence minister said India does not believe in dealing with such security issues in the “old paternalistic or the neocolonial paradigms” and that it always preferred a collective approach to counter them.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addresses during DRDO seminar at Aero India 2023, in Bengaluru, Tuesday.

INDIA DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GIVING SERMONS TO OTHERS IN NEED: SINGH Bengaluru: India does not believe in giving “sermons or cutand-dried” solutions to countries in need of assistance and holds that nations with superior military powers do not have the right to dictate solutions to others, Rajnath Singh said in an apparent reference to China’s assertive behaviour. In an address to his counterparts and deputy defence ministers from around 30 countries at Aero India, Singh said India has always stood for a rules-based global order in which the primordial instinct of “might being right” is replaced by fairness, respect and equality amongst all sovereign nations.

Crucial Read

MAN CHEATS ASPIRING ACTORS BY POSING AS DIRECTOR-PRODUCER, HELD IN DELHI

New Delhi (PTI): A 26-year-old man was arrested for allegedly posing as a director-producer and defrauding hundreds of youngsters on the pretext of providing them with acting opportunities, police said today. Anuj Kumar Ojha from Bihar’s Gopalganj district registered a production company registered in the name of ‘AAVYA’ and allegedly lured youngsters by posting acting opportunities in web series, serials and advertisements on his Instagram stories. He was also wanted in a case in Panchkula for allegedly cheating a woman by assuring her a role in a serial titled “Choti Sardarni”, the officials said.

MAN THREATENS TO KILL MINISTER NITYANAND RAI, HELD IN BIHAR: COPS

Hajipur (PTI): Police today arrested a young man, who had threatened to kill Union minister and senior BJP leader from Bihar Nityanand Rai in a video that has gone viral on social media. According to Kumar Manish, the Superintendent of Police, Vaishali, the accused Madhav Jha (25) was arrested from Town police station area early in the morning. Nityanand Rai, the Minister of State for Home, is scheduled to take part in a procession here on the occasion of Mahashivratri later this week and Jha, in the video, had spoken of “firing two bullets” on the leader on the occasion.