The income tax "survey" at the BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices ended last night after nearly three days of officials going through digital records and files. Some 10 employees, including the senior editors of Britain's public broadcaster, returned home after spending three days at the office in central Delhi's Kasturba Gandhi Marg.
The tax officials have cloned the mobile phones of several BBC senior employees and scanned their desktops and laptops, sources have said.
They said the tax officials scanned the devices with keywords such as "tax", "black money", and "benami", which refers to money changing hands without passing through the formal banking system.
"The Income Tax Authorities have left our offices in Delhi and Mumbai. We will continue to cooperate with the authorities and hope matters are resolved as soon as possible. We are supporting staff – some of whom have faced lengthy questioning or been required to stay overnight – and their welfare is our priority. Our output is back to normal and we remain committed to serving our audiences in India and beyond," BBC's press team tweeted.
The broadcaster had issued a fresh mail to its employees, asking them to cooperate with the officials.
The mail from BBC read, "All employees to cooperate in the ongoing surveys'. All employees should support IT survey officials and answer their questions comprehensively."
"Employees can refrain from answering questions on personal income if asked so. They should answer other salary-related queries," it further stated.
"Only the broadcast department to come to the office, other employees to continue working from home," it read.