Moradabad, Jul 1 (IANS): In an unprecedented move, the Moradabad District Magistrate (DM) locked up over two dozen mediapersons inside an emergency ward for two hours while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was visiting the district hospital.

DM Rakesh Kumar Singh posted guards outside the gate to ensure that the journalists did not come out during Adityanath's visit on Saturday.

After half-an-hour when the Chief Minister left, Singh came and unlocked the gate, saying that the mediapersons were responsible for his act.

He asked the mediapersons not to visit the district hospital.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has criticized Adityanath for banning mediapersons from covering his routine visit.

In a post on Twitter, she said: "Journalists are being held as hostages, questions are being shielded and problems are being sidelined. The BJP government, which got a majority in the Lok Sabha elections, is turning a blind eye to the questions of the public."

The incident has been criticized on social media and many have also slammed the DM for giving such an order.

However, Singh later clarified on Twitter that no such incident occurred.

"It is not correct. During inspection, many mediapersons were inside the ward and we simply requested media persons not to go inside the ward," he said.