Centre slaps three Uttar Pradesh IPS officers with premature retirement, deems them unfit for service

Lucknow: Three IPS officers have been prematurely retired in Uttar Pradesh, including the one who has been at loggerheads with the state government. An officer of the 1992 batch, Inspector General Amitabh Thakur, on Tuesday disclosed his retirement on Twitter, attaching a copy of the orders issued by the Union government. He was currently posted as the Joint Director (Civil Defence). Two other officers–a 2002-batch DIG and an SP of the 2005 batch–have also been prematurely retired, UP Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said. Both were promoted to the IPS from the Provincial Police Service. Thakur was to retire in June 2028 while the promotee IPS officers were to retire in June 2023 and April 2024. There are several cases lodged against the officers. Awasthi said the Union government in its order dated March 17 found 1992-batch IPS officer Amitabh Thakur unfit to remain in service and in public interest decided to give him retirement with immediate effect before completing his service tenure. Earlier on Tuesday, Thakur in a Hindi tweet said, “I received my retirement orders. The government does not need my service, Jai Hind.” Thakur had run-ins both with the current BJP and previous Samajwadi Party governments. In 2016, Thakur had written twice to the Union Home Ministry, seeking a change in his cadre. The officer had alleged that UP government officials were treating him as a “sworn enemy” and cited threat to his life. He had expressed his inability to continue working in the prevailing conditions and demanded that he be shifted out of the state. The Centre in January 2017 turned down his request. Thakur was suspended on 13 July, 2015, days after he had accused the then Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav of threatening him. He had made public an audio recording, in which the SP leader had allegedly threatened him. Thereafter, the state government initiated a Vigilance inquiry against him. Later, the Lucknow bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal stayed the suspension of Thakur and ordered his reinstatement with full salary with effect from 11 October, 2015 Thakur was posted as the Joint Director (Civil Defence) on 17 May, 2018. In a tweet on Monday, Thakur had said, “Some of my friends had told stories about bribe taken by a woman officer of the Lucknow Police. It seems this ‘‘shaavika’’ (female cub) has understood the ‘‘Mission Shakti’’ wrongly.”