UP: 'We were only disposing waste'

Denying that documents were destroyed at his office in Lucknow, outgoing Uttar Pradesh Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Azam Khan on Friday night said his staff were only disposing "waste."

"We were just disposing waste. We thought we would clean up the office," he told reporters when questioned on his office in the Assembly Secretariat being sealed following reports that his staff had destroyed some documents.

Reacting to Bahujan Samaj Party chief and Chief Minister-in-waiting Mayawati ordering a probe into the matter, he said, "I don't know why she is doing this."

Mayawati has decided to order a high-level inquiry into Khan's staff members allegedly tearing papers and dumping them into the dustbin shortly after the Assembly election results came out with the Samajwadi Party receiving a drubbing.

Mayawati said the director-general of police would probe the matter and she would personally look into it after being sworn in.