Tax raids at BBC India offices

Indian tax department raids at BBC offices entered a second day, journalists at the broadcaster said, in an action rights groups linked to critical coverage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Press freedom in the world's biggest democracy has suffered during Modi's tenure, rights activists say.

The government has denied the raids were politically motivated but a spokesman for his ruling party accused the British outlet of engaging in "anti-India propaganda" after the raids began.

The search comes weeks after the BBC aired a documentary on his actions during sectarian riots in 2002 that left at least 1,000 people dead, mostly minority Muslims.

Officers entered the New Delhi and Mumbai offices of the British media outlet, confiscating phones and accessing computer terminals.

Authorities were questioning individual staff members after allowing editorial staff to leave the previous evening.

"They are questioning the administrative managers after scanning all the digital devices," a journalist at the broadcaster said.

The BBC asked staff to work from home and only key persons were allowed to return to the office, which has been sealed to unauthorised visitors since Tuesday.

The Income Tax Department said the broadcaster was in "deliberate non-compliance" with its regulations, according to Indian media reports quoting unnamed government sources.

But the Committee to Protect Journalists said the timing of the raid just weeks after the documentary aired "smacked of intimidation".