Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh government is likely to launch an investigation into the 1978 communal riots in Sambhal, which had witnessed large scale violence during a court-mandated survey of a mosque in which four persons were killed.

The decision to re-open the riots cases follows chief minister Yogi Adityanath's remarks in the state assembly on Monday that 184 Hindus were killed in the 1978 communal riots, which had lasted for more than two months.

According to the sources, the Sambhal district administration had been asked to hand over the files and records pertaining to the violence to explore the possibilities of re-opening the cases which were registered during and after the violence. Sources said that around 169 cases had been registered with regard to the violence.

Sources said that the officials were examining if there were lapses in pursuing the cases and collecting evidence against the accused persons. ''The investigation will focus on the status of the court cases, deposition of the witnesses, execution of the warrants among other things,'' said a senior official in Sambhal.

The officials refused to elaborate on the issue but said that the files pertaining to the violence would be examined carefully before deciding the next course of action.

Adityanath had, on Monday, claimed that Sambhal had a long history of communal riots since independence and that 209 Hindus had been killed in incidents of communal riots in Sambhal since 1947.

He had lashed out at the opposition for not speaking a ''word'' on the killing of the Hindus. ''Those who are now shedding crocodile tears over the death of four people in Sambhal, never spoke anything about the killings of the Hindus there,'', he added.

''The history of communal riots in Sambhal begins in 1947....communal violence took place there at regular intervals and Hindus were killed in the riots,'' he had remarked.