Uttar Pradesh police’s special investigation team on Tuesday questioned Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rahman Barq for about three hours over the November 24 violence in Sambhal in which four persons lost their lives.

The violence had erupted during a court-ordered survey to evaluate Hindu petitioners’ claim that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had got the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal built after demolishing a temple, and the site should therefore be handed over to Hindus.

Barq was questioned at Nakhas Kotwali police station in Sambhal city. “I answered all their questions but cannot reveal them because they are part of a larger investigation,” he told reporters later.

Sources in the police said “the most important question prepared for Barq” was why he called Zafar Ali, the mosque chief, from Bengaluru on November 23 and whether he had asked Ali to instigate the people to resort to violence the following day.

“Barq acknowledged that he had spoken to Ali but claimed that it was a casual conversation with the two discussing legal options following the court-directed survey,” a police source said.

Barq had told reporters before going to the police station: “I am unwell and doctors have asked me to rest. But I decided to appear before the SIT so they don’t accuse me of non-cooperation with the inquiry. I believe in the law of the land, the Constitution and the courts and will act accordingly.”

Three lawyers accompanied the parliamentarian.

The SIT arrested mosque head Ali on March 23 on the charge of provoking people to resort to violence soon after questioning him at Nakhas Kotwali police station.

Ali and Barq had claimed after the violence that the police had provoked the Muslim crowd outside the mosque during the November 24 violence and then fired at them.

Krishan Kumar, the superintendent of police of Sambhal, had denied the allegation and said two groups of people had clashed with each other over control of the mosque.

The Archaeological Survey of India, which supervises the shrine, has decided to put up a new board at the gate of the mosque, calling it by another name. “The mosque is called Shahi Jama Masjid. But the ASI has sent a new signboard with Juma Masjid written on it in Hindi. It is kept at Satyavrat police station and will be put up in front of the mosque soon. We have come to know from ASI officials that the mosque was initially known as Juma Masjid,” said a police officer who didn’t want to be named.

Satyavrat police station was constructed in front of the mosque after the November violence and inaugurated on Ram Navami on April 6 amidst claims by local Muslims that their land was forcibly taken for the new building.