LUCKNOW: IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, compulsorily retired early this year, was arrested by the Lucknow Police on Friday in connection with the self-immolation case outside the Supreme Court by a rape survivor and her companion a fortnight ago.
Before immolating themselves, the two had named jailed BSP MP Atul Rai and Thakur among others for harassing them and conspiring to defame them on social media.
While taking the extreme step, the victim and her companion had live-streamed a video message on social media accusing BSP MP Atul Rai, then Varanasi SSP Amit Pathak, former IG Amitabh Thakur, and other police and judicial officers of harassing them and forcing them to commit suicide. The video was considered as the dying declaration by the investigation team.
After the incident, the state government had constituted a two-member special investigating team (SIT) headed by UP Police Recruitment & Promotion Board (UPPRPB) RK Vishwakarma and Additional Director General (ADG) Women Power Line 1090 (WPL) Neera Rawat to probe into the allegations levelled by the rape survivor against the cops. Both the rape survivor and her companion succumbed to burn injuries at a Delhi hospital recently.
Following the investigation, the Lucknow police had lodged a case of abetment to suicide against the jailed MP Atul Rai and former IG Amitabh Thakur on Friday on the instructions of the Uttar Pradesh Director General of police, Mukul Goel. The DGP was ordered to lodge the FIR against Thakur on the basis of the probe report submitted to him by the two-member SIT.
After registering the FIR at Hazaratganj police station, Thakur was arrested in the state capital. Earlier in the day, however, Amitabh Thakur announced that he had floated his own political outfit 'Adhikar Sena'.
In March this year, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) had directed Thakur to take an exit from Indian Police Services (IPS) through Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) finding him unsuitable for the job.
The FIR was lodged by senior sub-inspector Daya Shankar Dwivedi posted at Hazratganj police station. Dwivedi stated in the FIR that on the basis of the report of the two-member SIT, it surfaced that the victim woman had lodged a case of rape and dishonesty against the jailed MP Atul Rai in 2019. Police filed a charge sheet in the court. Thereafter, the accused got seven FIRs lodged against the victim woman.
The FIR further claimed that the rape survivor had given a letter dated November 10, 2020, to SSP Varanasi accusing Amitabh Thakur of having taken money from BSP MP Atul Rai to frame false evidence in the court and also trying to tarnish her image forcing her to commit self-immolation.
The rape survivor had also stated in the same letter that Amitabh Thakur was circulating misleading facts and defiling her image by circulating audios of her witnesses being related to criminals, said the FIR.
The FIR also states that further on August 16, 2021, the victim woman and a man who was a witness of the case, immolated themselves outside the gate of the Supreme Court and later succumbed to their injuries.