Suspended UP IPS faces trouble from colleagues

Suspended IPS officer Amitabh Thakur now faces trouble from his own colleagues in the cadre.

According to a new char-gesheet sent to the suspen-ded officer from principal home secretary Devashish Panda, 10 IPS officers and 3 IAS officers have reportedly agreed to serve as witne-sses in the 39 charges levelled against Mr Thakur.

The Akhilesh government has added new witnesses as well as documentary and oral “evidences” in the departmental inquiry being carried against suspended IPS officer.

Earlier there were 18 documentary and five oral witnesses against Mr Thakur, but now there are 39 documentary and 20 oral evidences.

Among IPS officers, Uttarakhand director-general of police B.S. Siddhu will depose about the alleged adverse impact on law and order in Dehra Dun because of Thakur couple’s visit earlier this year. The couple had held a press conference in Dehra Dun in connection with a case in which Mr Siddhu was accused of usurping forest land through dubious means.

The other IPS officers who will depose against Mr Thakur are ADGs Chandra Prakash and Tanuja Srivastava, IG of police Braj Bhushan Sharma, SPs Sadhana Goswami, K.S. Emmanuel, Deepak Kumar and Preetinder Singh.

IAS officers C.P. Tripathi (former district magistrate of Rampur), Shubhra Saxena (district magistrate of Shahjahanpur) and Bhav Nath (former district magistrate of Allahabad) will be deposing about the adverse impact on law and order due to visits of Mr Amitabh Thakur and his wife Nutan in connection with various cases in these districts.

It may be recalled that Mr Thakur was suspended in July this year after he lodged a complaint accusing Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav of threatening him on phone on July 10.

Mr Thakur alleged that the SP leader threatened him because of the complaint lodged against a minister in the Samajwadi Party government in the state by his activist wife Nutan Thakur.

However, government said that Amitabh was suspended on charges of indiscipline and corruption.