Ex-UP IPS officer, who declared to contest assembly poll against Yogi, arrested in rape victim's suicide case

Ex-Uttar Pradesh IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, who had declared that he would contest against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the upcoming state Assembly polls, due early next year, was on Friday arrested in connection with the suicide by an alleged rape victim, hours after he announced the formation of a new outfit 'Adhikar Sena'.

According to the police sources here, Thakur, who had been compulsorily retired by the government a few months back, was arrested on the basis of the report of the Special Investigation Team formed to probe the matter.

The victim, who had accused BSP Lok Sabha member from Ghosi seat in UP's Mau district Atul Rai of raping her, had set herself ablaze before the Supreme Court with her male friend a few days back alleging that some police officials colluded with the culprits to deny her justice and also implicate her in false cases.

The victim, who later succumbed to her injuries, had alleged that Thakur and some other police officials had conspired to frame her in a false case of forgery. The SIT had quizzed Thakur, former Varanasi police chief Amit Pathak and some others in this connection.

The victim had lodged a case of rape against Rai at the Lanka police station in Varanasi in 2019. She alleged that Rai had raped her after calling her to his house in Varanasi on the pretext of getting her to meet his wife. Later a case of forgery was registered against the victim on the direction of a local court in Varanasi.

Thakur, who had already been under ''house arrest'' after he had tried to visit Gorakhpur, Adityanath's home town, to hold a public contact program, was taken to Hazratganj police station, sources said.

A video later went viral on social media platforms showing Thakur being 'forced' into the vehicle by the cops.

The firebrand ex-IPS officer, who had been usually given insignificant postings in view of his plain speaking, had irked the BJP government when he predicted that gangster Vikas Dubey, who had killed eight cops and was nabbed in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh last year, would be killed in an encounter even before it happened. Thakur announced the formation of a new outfit 'Adhikar Sena' on Friday.