Yogi cracks the whip again, three IPS officers given compulsory retirement

In a crackdown on officers with corruption charges or those found unfit to work in the interest of society, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath removed three officers of the elite Indian Police Services (IPS) cadre.

The order for compulsory retirement of the three IPS officers, including the controversial Amitabh Thakur, was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), confirmed Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi here on Tuesday.

According to reports, a written order issued by the MHA said that Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer of 1992 batch, had been given retirement even before the completion of his service with immediate effect in the public interest. The order said that Thakur was not found fit to be retained for the remaining tenure of his service.

He still had about seven years of service left and was to retire in June, 2028.

Interestingly, Thakur, presently posted as IG Civil Defense himself took to Twitter to inform that he has been given a compulsory retirement by the Home Ministry. He further shared that he had just received the VRS order, stating that the government no longer needs his services and hence has been given a premature retirement. He claimed that he would go through the entire order and if he found any injustice, he would take necessary action to challenge it. He also added that he will continue to work as an activist just like he did all through his service.

Thakur had in 2017 urged the Centre to dispose of his request for change of cadre, saying the “bias” against him does not exist anymore following the Samajwadi Party’s rout in the polls. Thakur had earlier sent an application to the Union Home Ministry for a change of cadre from Uttar Pradesh to any other state, citing threat to his life.

In a letter to the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, he said, “I had sought cadre change in view of serious threat to my life and family after Mulayam Singh Yadav’s phone call.”

Thakur was suspended on July 13, 2015, days after he had accused Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav of threatening him. The state government had then initiated a vigilance inquiry against him. However, the Lucknow Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal stayed the suspension of Thakur in April and ordered his reinstatement with full salary with effect from October 11, 2015.

He had also requested the Centre to get the departmental inquiries against him transferred to some other state, alleging bias and irregularities on the part of the senior state government functionaries.

Reports said that besides Thakur, two more IPS officers, Rajesh Krishna, 2005 batch IPS officer posted as Commandant of 10th Battalion PAC in Barabanki, and Rakesh Shankar, 2002 batch IPS officer posted as DIG (Establishment) in Lucknow, were also served compulsory retirement order by the government.

Krishna’s retirement is due for May 2024 while Shankar is to retire in June 2023.

Krishna was facing charges of corruption when during recruitment of constables during the Mulayam Singh Yadav regime, raids were conducted and heavy cash was recovered from his room. Similarly, Rakesh Shankar was facing charges of improper supervision in the Deoria Shelter Home case.

It may be mentioned that an inmate of the shelter home managed to contact the SP of Deoria and revealed how the girls of the home were given drugs and how they were pushed into prostitution. The probe later revealed how the inmates had been sent to influential persons to satisfy their lust.

Rakesh Shankar at that time claimed he was not supposed for supervision of the home and that the district magistrate was responsible for it. However, the government ordered an inquiry against him.