IPS Officer Amitabh Thakur has been given premature retirement from his service after terming him "not fit" for service.
Once suspended by Uttar Pradesh government in 2015 after he accused Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav of "threatening" him, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 17 March ordered him to retire.
The order copy was sent to the Uttar Pradesh government where Thakur was currently posted as an Inspector General of Police.
A 1992-batch IPS, Thakur was given retirement orders even before the completion of his service with immediate effect in the public interest.
“In the public interest, Amitabh Thakur is being given premature retirement before completion of his service with immediate effect,” the Home Ministry order said.
As per the order, Thakur was "not found fit to be retained for the remaining tenure of his service".
Thakur took to Twitter to inform that he has been given a compulsory retirement by the Home Ministry.
Thakur further shared that he had just received the VRS order, stating that the government no longer needed his services and hence has given a premature retirement.
In 2017, Thakur had urged the Centre to dispose off 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 Ministry of Home Affairs for a change of cadre from Uttar Pradesh to any other state, citing a 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’s phone call.”
Thakur was suspended on July 13, 2015, days after he had accused Mulayam Singh of threatening him. The state government had then initiated a vigilance inquiry against him. However, the Lucknow Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal had stayed the suspension of Thakur in April and ordered his reinstatement with full salary with effect from 11 October 2015.
Thakur had urged the Centre to transfer him to some other state till the departmental inquiries against him got over, accusing some senior state government officials.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)