Lucknow: Cong claims IPS officer's suspension an act of revenge

Supension of senior IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, who was locked in a tussle with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Tuesday set off a political storm with the Opposition terming it an "act of revenge" by the ruling party.

“The intention behind the suspension of Thakur appears to be mala fide. This is an act of revenge. Had Thakur done any anti-government act or flouted rules and regulations, he should have been suspended before tape of Mulayam Singh Yadav threatening him came to the fore," Uttar Pradesh Congress president Nirmal Khatri said.

Khatri was referring to an audio tape released by Thakur purportedly containing the voice of the SP chief.

BJP too felt that Thakur's suspension was "unfortunate" and an act of government to put pressure on him.

“It’s (suspension) unfortunate. His dharna outside the DGP's office was also taken into consideration for his suspension. Why action was not taken when he sat on dharna,” BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak wondered.

Pathak alleged that the SP government liked persons like UP minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and Noida engineer Yadav Singh, whose name have figured in corruption cases, and disliked officers like Thakur.

Asked to comment on the issue, senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya said it was action of an "anarchic government" against an officer of similar tendency.

"Threatening an officer by a leader of Mulayam Singh Yadav's stature is not a dignified act. However, by observing the working style of Thakur it does not appear that he is serious in performing his duties," Maurya said.

"The manner in which Mulayam had acted ignoring democratic dignity, the same way Thakur is infamous for his behaviour," he said.

On action against Thakur, Maurya declined to say anything.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, however, backed his father and SP supremo, and said he saw "nothing wrong" in Mulayam "scolding" the senior IPS officer.

"When Mulayam Singh Yadav can scold the chief minister, there is nothing wrong in his scolding an official," Akhilesh said.

The SP chief is in the eye of a storm after he allegedly threatened with serious consequences the IG-rank officer asking him to mend his ways.

The audio content purported to be the voice of Mulayam went viral on electronic media after the IPS officer released it along with the text of the alleged conversation.

Thakur was yesterday suspended by the state government hours after he had approached the Union Home ministry in Delhi seeking a CBI probe into the rape charges filed against him after he lodged a complaint against Mulayam for threatening him.

The charges against Thakur included dereliction of duty, arbitrariness, indiscipline, taking an anti-establishment approach and flouting high court orders.

On July 11, an FIR was registered at Gomti Nagar police station in Lucknow against Thakur under sections 376 (rape), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, on the basis of an earlier complaint by a Ghaziabad-based woman. The IPS officer's wife and social activist Nutan Thakur has been named co-accused.

Image: IPS Amitabh Thakur after meeting with MHA officials in New Delhi. Photograph: Subhav Shukla/Reuters