BBC India offices searched by income tax officials

BBC offices in India have been searched as part of an investigation by income tax authorities.

The searches in New Delhi and Mumbai come weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary in the UK critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The documentary focused on the prime minister’s role in anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002, when he was chief minister of the state.

The BBC said that it was “fully co-operating” with authorities.

Although the documentary was only broadcast on television in the UK, India’s government has attempted to block people sharing India: The Modi Question online, calling it “hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage” with a “colonial mind-set”.