A  district magistrate in India’s Bihar state has courted controversy by allegedly asking a villager to “sell his wife” if he could not arrange money to build a toilet at home, The Times of India reported.

District Magistrate (DM) Kanwal Tanuj purportedly made this comment while addressing a ‘Swachchata Mahasabha’ programme at Jamhor block on Friday.

The DM, however, claimed that it was a “distorted version” of his speech.