Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Minister Azam Khan has denied having called up any official before the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots broke out, as accused by a television channel in a sting operation.
Appearing before a committee set up by the state assembly in the aftermath of the claim in a sting operation that the riots took place after Azam Khan asked police officials not to act against two Muslim men accused of killing two Hindu men when they protested their sister's molestation.
Sources said the senior Samajwadi Party leader recorded his statement before the committee Wednesday.
He told the committee members that he had "no role whatsoever" in the Muzaffarnagar riots. When asked if he had called up police officials before the riots, ordering release of the two Muslim men, the minister responded in negative.
He said the committee can seek details of his mobile number and the land line phone installed at his residence.
The committee was formed after a television channel accused Azam Khan of interfering in police work and intervening to let go two Muslim men, accused of killing two Hindus.
The committee is being headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Satish Nigam.
Communal clashes broke out in western Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, where over 63 people have been killed and thousands displaced.
Raw footage of the sting has been sent to a forensic lab in Hyderabad for test and report.
