New Delhi, May 29 (PTI) The district magistrate of Bihar's Gopalganj has denied before a Delhi court that he had any role in the February 2009 abduction and killing of three Manipur government employees in Ukhrul district of the northeastern state during his tenure there.

Appearing before Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Jain, holding trial in the triple murder case, Gopalganj District Magistrate Pankaj Kumar Pal refuted the newspaper reports suggesting that he had masterminded the abduction and killings of the three government employees, including a state civil service officer.

The case was handed over to the CBI while the Supreme Court had transferred it from Manipur to Delhi on apprehension of outbreak of communal backlash from the Meiteis, majority ethnic group of Manipur to which one of the slain officials belonged.

"The newspaper reports suggesting that I was the brain behind the killings were baseless," said the IAS officer.