NEW DELHI, May 12 (Bernama) — The government of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday has denied the Allahabad High Court permission to prosecute the chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the 2007 Gorakhpur riots case, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Chief Secretary of the state Rahul Bhatnagar told the court that the Home Ministry had denied permission for the prosecution of Yogi Adityanath as forensic examination of a CD of his speech was reportedly found to have been tampered with.

Adityanath, a Hindu priest, became Uttar Pradesh chief minister in March after a massive victory of his Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Allahabad High Court had last week asked the senior official of the state to present all the documents pertaining to the 2007 riots case. Adityanath, local member of parliament from Gorakhpur at the time was one of the accused in the case.

Adityanath was accused of making an inflammatory speech in 2007.

After a young Hindu boy died in the 2007 clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Gorakhpur, the district administration instructed Adityanath not to visit the area fearing further clashes, but he defied the order.

He was later arrested. The riots in the city led to deaths of at least 10 people.– BERNAMA