UP IPS officer Amitabh Thakur suspended hours after seeking security from MHA

NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh IPS officer Amitabh Thakur was suspended from service by the Uttar Pradesh government, hours after he met senior home ministry official in New Delhi to seek security in the wake of threats to him and his wife Nutan following his row with former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Home ministry officials said Thakur and his wife may get central security if the threat to their life was found real.

"The rape complaint against me is fictitious and comes after my wife lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta against UP mining minister," Thakur said in Delhi after meeting home ministry’s additional secretary Anant Kumar Singh. "I will not seek bail in this false rape case and would prefer to go to jail as I am innocent. At the time of the alleged rape, I was with my wife and two children at home."

Meanwhile, Yadav’s son and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav broke his silence on the controversy in which his government has been accused of trying to launch a witch-hunt against an activist IPS officer by lodging a rape case against him. "Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) advises everybody, including politicians and officers. He even advises me as many media persons have written about. So what he said (to Amitabh Thakur) should not be taken otherwise," Akhilesh Yadav said.

State health minister Ahmad Hassan, however, demanded stern action against Thakur. "What Thakur is doing amounts to indiscipline under the IPS service rules. He should be punished for it, otherwise it will send a wrong message to the police personnel," said Hassan.