BBC services in India have been searched as part of an disquisition by income duty authorities

 

 The quests in New Delhi and Mumbai come weeks after the broadcaster vented a talkie in the UK critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 The BBC said that it was" completelyco-operating" with authorities.

 

 Although the talkie was broadcast on TV only in the UK, India's government has tried to block people participating India The Modi Question online, calling it" hostile propaganda andanti-India scrap" with a" social mind- set".

 

 Last month, police in Delhi detained scholars as they gathered to watch the film.

 

 The talkie concentrated on the high minister's part inanti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002, when he was principal minister of the state.

 

 The general clerk of the opposition Congress party, KC Venugopal, said Tuesday's hunt" reeks of despair and shows that the Modi government is spooked of review".

 

" We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial station can not go on any longer," he twittered.

 

 But Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesperson from Mr Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party( BJP), described the BBC as the" most loose organisation in the world".

 

" India is a country which gives an occasion to every organisation," he said," as long as you do not spew venom."

 

 He added the quests were legal and the timing had nothing to do with the government.

 

 A police vehicle leaving the BBC's services in Mumbai

 

 A police vehicle leaving the BBC's office in Mumbai

 The Editors council of India- anon-profit group which promotes press freedom- said it was" deeply concerned" about the quests.

 

 They're a" durability of a trend of using government agencies to blackjack and kill press organisations that are critical of government programs or the ruling establishment", it said.

 

 Amnesty International India's Board indicted authorities of" trying to kill and blackjack the BBC over its critical content of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party".

 

 It said the" overbroad powers of the Income Tax Department are constantly being weaponised to silence dissent".

 

 The talkie highlights a preliminarily unpublished report, attained by the BBC from the UK Foreign Office, which raises questions about Mr Modi's conduct during the 2002 screams.

 

 The rioting began the day after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was set on fire, killing dozens. further than,000 people, substantially Muslims, failed in the posterior violence.

 

 The Foreign Office report claims that Mr Modi was" directly responsible" for the" climate of immunity" that enabled the violence.

 

 In 2005, the US denied Mr Modi a visa under a law that bars the entry of foreign officers seen to be responsible for" severe violations of religious freedom".

 

 Mr Modi has long rejected allegations against him, and has not apologised for the screams. In 2013, a Supreme Court panel also said there was inadequate substantiation to make him.

 

 The BBC said last month that the Indian government was offered a right to reply to the talkie but it declined.

 

 The broadcaster said the film was" strictly delved " and" a wide range of voices, substantiations and experts were approached, and we've featured a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BJP".

 

 From January Students arrested before webbing of BBC Modi talkie

 

 The targeting of organisations seen as critical of the government isn't uncommon in India.

 

 In 2020, Amnesty International was forced to halt its India operations, with the group criminating the government of pursuing a" witch- quest" against mortal rights organisations.

 

 Oxfam was also searched last time along with other originalnon-government organisations.

 

 The Editors council of India said duty authorities raided four other media outlets in 2021, after they carried negative content of the government.

 

 According to thenon-profit group journalists Without Borders press freedom has fallen since Mr Modi came to power.

 The group's World Press Freedom Index ranks India 150th of 180 countries, down 10 places since 2014.