Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has stoked a fresh row by saying that India's most-wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim was present during PM Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's meeting in Lahore last year.

The Samajwadi Party leader, who is known for making controversial remarks, said that he has proof of Dawood's presence at the meeting.



"Prime Minister visited Pakistan by breaking international laws. He also met Dawood there. Let him (Modi) deny. I will give evidence. Who all did he meet behind closed doors?" Khan said.

He said besides Sharif, his mother, his wife and daughters, Dawood Ibrahim was also present when Modi met them at the Pakistan Prime Minister's residence when he went there on December 25 last.

However, the government today rubbished senior Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan's remarks by terming it as "false and baseless". "There are certain statements in a section of press that prime accused in serial blasts in Mumbai, Dawood Ibrahim, was also present during Prime Minister Narendra Modis meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on December 25, 2015. These statements are baseless, unfounded and totally false," an official spokesman said reacting to Khan's claim.

In a surprise visit, PM Narendra Modi, had made a quick stopover in Lahore in December last year, to wish his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the occasion of his birthday. The prime minister's unscheduled stopover in Lahore to meet Sharif had surprised many.

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Govt dismisses Azam Khan's allegation, calls it baseless, false

