Scotland Yard has opened a preliminary inquiry into the deletion of tens of millions of emails during the British phone-hacking scandal that rocked Rupert Murdoch’s news media empire more than a dozen years ago.

The development could entangle current and former News Corp executives, including the chief executive of The Washington Post, in an inquiry into whether the deletions were aimed at obstructing justice.

The inquiry threatens to reopen a tumultuous chapter in British news media and political history. For years, journalists and private investigators landed scoops by surreptitiously obtaining the voice mail and phone and bank records of celebrities, business leaders, politicians and others.

The scandal toppled Mr. Murdoch’s best-selling tabloid newspaper, News of the World, and led to criminal charges and years of civil lawsuits. Many hacking victims have argued for years that Mr. Murdoch’s British company, News UK, improperly purged emails to limit the fallout. The company adamantly denies that.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had been the target of hacking and other surreptitious reporting methods, called for a fresh investigation this year. He cited civil litigation by Prince Harry and other phone hacking victims that unearthed fresh evidence about the destruction of some 30 million company emails.