Claiming himself to be innocent Urban Development Minister Md Azam Khan said that if he was found guilty as claimed by a sting operation he was ready for any punishment.
"I will ask the channel to carry out its own investigation. If I am found guilty of trying to suppress information the channel should itself decide punishment and I will gladly accept that," Khan said in reaction to the sting operation in which officials were shown saying culprits were released on the direction of Azam Khan.He even claimed that sting operation of the channel as 'fake'. "There is a conspiracy to malign my image," he said.
'Never in my life have I supported the wrong cause and what was shown on the news channel was against my ideology," he said and added: "The reporter seemed to have put my name in the mouth of the official while I had nothing to do with it."
Khan, also the in-charge of Muzaffarnagar district, shifted the blame on the officials saying it was their responsibility to deal with the spot situation. 'They were not issued any directions from the government level and any wrong decision, if taken, was entirely in their scope of powers,' he said.
He also questioned the timing of the sting operation saying when everything in Muzaffarnagar had returned to normal, it would rake up the communal issue again.