The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday filed a case against BBC under Foreign Exchange Management Act for alleged irregularities in foreign funding.
The federal probe agency also called for documents and the recording of statements of some company executives under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), they said.
The probe is essentially looking at purported foreign direct investment (FDI) violations by the company, they said.
The move comes in the backdrop of the Income-Tax department surveying BBC office premises in Delhi in February. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body for the I-T department, had then said the income and profits shown by various BBC group entities were "not commensurate" with the scale of their operations in India and tax has not been paid on certain remittances by its foreign entities.
BBC documentary triggers political row
The British broadcaster landed in trouble after releasing a documentary that was critical of then chief minister Narendra Modi on the 2002 riots in Gujarat. Subsequently, BBC documentary was banned in India.
Several students manhandled, 'detained'
Nearly a dozen students protesting against the debarment of two students for allegedly participating in a screening of the BBC documentary on Delhi University campus were detained on March 24 from the Arts faculty. The students have alleged that they were manhandled by the police and university security inside the North Campus premises.
Several reports came since the documentary release in which Left-leaning student unions screened or attempted to screen the documentary on the premises of universities/colleges in several states.
'Freedom of expression not license for deception': Assam CM
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on March 22 informed that the state assembly has adopted a resolution against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) saying that in New India there will be a democratic but proportionate response against those who profit by tarnishing Bharat’s image. "Let it be made clear in no uncertain terms that in New India there will be a democratic but proportionate response against those who profit by tarnishing Bharat’s image. Freedom of expression is not a license for deception," Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.
Assam, Maharashtra, Gujarat Assembly pass resolution against BBC documentary
Maharashtra, Gujarat and Assam Legislative Assemblies passed resolutions condemning the BBC for its documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots.
(With PTI input)
