London, Sept. 4: The 2.5-million-strong Indian community in the UK was in shock today after its most effective champion, the Labour MP Keith Vaz, was accused by the Sunday Mirror newspaper of inviting two male escorts to his London flat.

According to one report, 59-year-old Vaz, who was born in Aden into a Goan Catholic family, has decided to stand down as chairman of the powerful Commons select committee on home affairs or at least sessions dealing with prostitution.

But another report said Vaz has referred the allegations to his lawyers although he did not deny them.

In a statement given to the Mail on Sunday, in response to the Sunday Mirror story, Vaz was reported to have said: "I am genuinely sorry for the hurt and distress that has been caused by my actions, in particular to my wife and children. I will be informing the committee on Tuesday of my intention to stand aside from chairing the sessions of the committee with immediate effect."

Naz Shah, a member of the home affairs committee, told Sky News she had spoken to Vaz, adding "he has done the right thing" by standing down from the select committee.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "Keith Vaz has issued a statement on this matter. As with all departmental select committees, Keith was elected to the chair of the home affairs select committee by the House of Commons, and his position is a matter for him and the House."

Labour shadow health secretary Diane Abbott said this was a "dreadful" experience for Vaz, and his wife and children. "I have known Keith for over 30 years, I think this must be a dreadful time for him, and his family - his wife and his two children. And I would rather not comment," she told Sky News.

In a separate statement, Vaz appeared to suggest he was the victim of a sting operation.

"It is deeply disturbing that a national newspaper should have paid individuals to have acted in this way," the statement said. "I have referred these allegations to my solicitor Mark Stephens of Howard Kennedy who will consider them carefully and advise me accordingly."

If Vaz's wings are clipped, it will mean a huge blow for Indians. Only last month, he intervened with the home office when the sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan was refused a visa for the UK and helped reverse the decision - for which he was publicly thanked by the grateful musician.

Back in 2007, when Shilpa Shetty was subjected to racial abuse on the reality TV programme, Celebrity Big Brother, it was Vaz who took her under his wings and helped promote her cause. He has invited many Bollywood stars to Leicester, among them Shilpa, Amitabh Bachchan, Dalip Tahil and Sanjay Dutt.

Last year he helped Lalit Modi when the former IPL commissioner, living in exile in the UK, found he could not travel abroad because his Indian passport was not being renewed by the Indian authorities.

Whenever any Indian needed help, Vaz was almost always the first port of call.

This was the case in 2011 when a student, Anuj Bidve, was shot and killed by a racist thug in Salford near Manchester. His family met Vaz to appeal for justice.

And when a humiliated Indian nurse Jacintha Saldanha took her own life in London in 2012, after taking a hoax call from an Australian radio station, it was Vaz who stood by the family.

The Sunday Mirror's lurid front page story began: "He is one of the most influential MPs in the House of Commons and is currently overseeing the biggest shake-up of Britain's prostitution laws in a generation. But today the Sunday Mirror can reveal Keith Vaz, a married father of two, is leading a double life paying young male escorts for sex. Mr Vaz last met two Eastern European prostitutes eight days ago, even though he is chair of a powerful parliamentary group probing vice and drugs."

"And as the talk ranged from sex to pets, Mr Vaz eventually said: 'We need to get this party started.' Mr Vaz paid the escorts in cash. Money was also paid into a bank account used by one of them by a man linked to a charity set up by the MP." Vaz has set up a diabetes charity - he himself suffers from Type 2 diabetes.

"Mr Vaz has had at least two meetings with the escorts," the paper continued. "In a 90-minute rendezvous on August 27, the former minister for Europe offered to cover the cost of cocaine if it was brought to the flat - but said he did not want any himself."

It also said: "Keith Vaz hid real identity from male escorts he told, 'My name's Jim and I sell washing machines.' He is currently heading up the committee which has investigated harm caused by the illegal Class A drug."

Vaz has his enemies because he has consistently stood up for the Indian community - and they will now use the Sunday Mirror story as ammunition to try and destroy his career.