UP govt suspends IPS officer Amitabh Thakur

New Delhi: The tussle between senior IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadv is getting murkier by the day as the Uttar Pradesh government suspends IPS officer Amitabh Thakur.

An official release issued in Lucknow said the state government has suspended Thakur with immediate effect on prima facie charges of dereliction of duty, indiscipline, taking an anti-establishment approach and flouting high court orders.

The release said that during his period of suspension, Thakur will remain attached to the DGP office and not leave the state headuqarters without the DGP’s permission.

Reacting to the suspension order, Thakur said he will challenge it in a court of law. “I will bring the matter before the court concerned,” he said.

Earlier, the officer met Union Home Ministry officials on Monday to request for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the issue.

The development comes after an FIR was filed by a Ghaziabad-based woman accused Thakur of rape.

The IPS officer has accused the Samajwadi Party chief of conspiring against him as the rape charge came a day after he alleged that Mulayam had threatened him. He had termed the filing of FIR against him as a “return gift” from the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

Thakur had also said that after his wife complained to the Lokayukta against state minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and his illegal property, she started receiving threat calls.

Case

Thakur, who has been assisting his wife and RTI activist Nutan Thakur in raising social issues, released an audio tape purportedly containing the voice of the SP chief. 

According to Thakur, Mulayam had asked him to “mend his ways” after his wife went to the Lokayukta, accusing the Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party government of corruption.

On July 9, a day before Mulayam’s alleged threat, an FIR was registered against Mining Minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, state women’s commission chairperson Zarina Usmani and six others on the complaint of Nutan Thakur, who had accused them of “framing” her and her husband in “fake” cases. Thakur said he now feared an attack on his life, and has sought security cover for himself and his family, claiming that he could “be killed or sent to jail.” 

Thakur is an IG-rank officer.

Police said they will have to check the veracity of the charges.