Notwithstanding the claims made by self-styled cyber expert Syed Shuja, the Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) on Tuesday made it clear that Mr. Shuja was not on its rolls as regular employee.

He was not associated with the design and deployment of the Electronic Voting Machines that had been produced in ECIL from 2009 to 2014, a statement from the ECIL said. Another crucial claim made by the ‘cyber expert’ linking the hacking of EVMs with the communal clashes reported in May of 2014 in Kishanbagh of Rajendranagar abutting Hyderabad’s Old City too didn’t find any basis in police records.

“Yes. There were clashes between groups of Sikhs and Muslims in Kishanbagh in May 2014 but the main reason and the trigger point were completely different from what the so-called Shuja claimed,” police officer Kushalkar told The Hindu over the phone. He was Inspector of the Rajendranagar police station in Cyberabad commissionerate and Investigating Officer of the violence-related cases.

Presently, he is working as Assistant Commissioner of Police in Hyderabad. The religious flag of the Sikh community got burnt when a person burnt iron scrap. This resulted in tension and persons belonging to two communities indulged in clashes. That was election time and para-military forces deployed for election arrangements were pressed into service to control the clashes. “As the situation was going out of control, police opened fire resulting in the death of three persons. Nothing beyond this was found during the subsequent investigation,” Mr. Kushalkar said.