Former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur was arrested on Friday in connection with the death of the rape victim who attempted self-immolation outside the Supreme Court on August 16. After arresting him, Hazratganj Kotwali, Lucknow police produced him in the court of the CJM Satyabir Singh in the evening, from where he was sent to judicial custody till September 9.

A case has been registered under Section 167, 195-A , 218, 504, 506 and 120-B of IPC, against BSP MP Atul Kumar Singh alias Atul Rai and Amitabh Thakur. The Uttar Pradesh government had formed a two-member probe panel to look into the allegations made by the woman. This panel was led by DGP (Police Recruitment and Promotion Board) Raj Kumar Vishwakarma and comprised Additional DG (Women Power Line) Neera Rawat.

After conducting an inquiry into the matter, the panel submitted its report to the state government and based on the same, the Lucknow police lodged an FIR against Thakur and Rai and arrested Thakur on charges of abetting the woman’s suicide. Rai is already imprisoned in Naini Jail, Prayagraj.

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The 24-year-old woman, who said she had been raped by Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai in 2019, succumbed to burn injuries on August 24. Her male friend, a 27-year-old Delhi University graduate, had died during treatment last week. The rape victim had alleged that Thakur had helped the MP in harassing and threatening her to withdraw the case or weaken it.

In a statement on Friday, Uttar Pradesh DGP Mukul Goel said,

”In connection with the self-immolation attempt by the victim and her aide before the Supreme Court on August 16, the government had constituted an inquiry committee which in its interim investigation report, found BSP MP from Ghosi, Atul Rai and Amitabh Thakur prima facie guilty of abetting the victim and her associate witness to commit suicide and of other charges and also recommended registering a case against them.”