Sanjeev Baliyan, BJP MP and an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots cases, said on Sunday that he had written to the Yogi Adityanath government requesting withdrawal of the cases registered against BJP leaders.

His claim comes a day after the government said it had written to the District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarnagar, asking for their opinion on withdrawing the cases in “public interest.”

“The Samajwadi Party booked many innocent people during the riots. That is why I wrote to the State Law Minister Brijesh Pathak. I told him that all these cases were fake. I requested a fresh probe because there was hardly any solid evidence in many cases and people were booked as part of a political vendetta,” Mr. Baliyan said on Sunday.

“I requested the Law Minister that if the fresh investigation reveals trumped up charges, then all the cases should be withdrawn,” he said. Mr. Baliyan himself is an accused in two cases of inflammatory speeches and was charged with provoking the violence that killed more than 60 people in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in August 2013.

Among the leaders booked in the riots cases are Bijnor MP Bhartendu Singh; Cane Development Minister in the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet Suresh Rana; Budhana MLA Umesh Malik; and party leader Sadhvi Prachi.

Jats’ demand

Meanwhile, the Jat community and its various khaps too have demanded that the riot cases against its members be withdrawn.

“The riots were orchestrated to mobilise and communally polarise voters. The announcement that the Yogi government would withdraw riot cases against its party leaders shows the double standards of the present government. Our demand is that if the government plans to rescue its party leaders, then hundreds of Jat youths who are in jail too must get that relief,” said Naresh Tikait, chief of the politically influential farmers’ body Bharatiya Kisan Union.