Analysts give their take on tax raids that took place in BBC's offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, just weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary examining Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role in deadly 2002 sectarian riots.

Modi's Hindu nationalist party says the two are not connected, but rights groups say the BBC raids show the parlous state of India's press freedom.

The three-day lockdown of the BBC's offices is the latest of several similar "search and survey" operations against media houses.

"Unfortunately, this is becoming a trend, there is no shying away from that," Kunal Majumdar of the Committee to Protect Journalists tells AFP.