Muzaffarnagar riots: Statement of then District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma recorded

MUZAFFARNAGAR: The inquiry commission probing the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots has recorded the statement of the then District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma who asserted that authorities had effectively controlled the violence.

The one-man inquiry commission of Justice (retd) Vishnu Sahai yesterday recorded the statement of Muzaffarnagar DM Kaushal Raj Sharma who asserted that district authorities had controlled the violence after taking steps to instill confidence in the people in the riot-hit district.

The commission has also summoned the then DGP Deoraj Nagar and the then state Home Secretary R N Srivastava on February 5 for recording their statements.

It would continue its sitting till February 6 here. The commission, which would submit its report to the state government on the cause of riots, action taken by the government officials at that time and measures to prevent riots in future, has so far recorded more than 450 statements including those of riots victims and senior officials.

The one-member judicial inquiry commission of Justice (retd) Vishnu Sahai, former Judge of Allahabad High Court, was constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government in September 2013 to probe the Muzaffarnagar riots.

Over 60 persons were killed and more than 40,000 displaced in communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in September, 2013.