The BBC said on Tuesday that it is "fully cooperating" with the Income Tax authorities who are at its offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and hoped that the situation will be resolved "as soon as possible".

The British Broadcasting Corporation, the UK-headquartered public broadcaster, did not give further details of what has been described as "surveys" by the I-T department, which reportedly involved local BBC staff being prevented from entering the office premises and their mobile phones being shut down.