UP Cong chief Ajay Rai extends support to ex-IPS officer Thakur jailed in land fraud case

Lucknow, Jan 3 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai on Saturday extended support to former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, currently lodged in the Deoria district jail in a land fraud case, and said the Congress would continue to raise its voice against the alleged injustice at every forum.

Thakur, the national president of the Azad Adhikar Sena, has been on an indefinite hunger strike since Thursday evening, alleging that the authorities failed to provide CCTV camera footage related to his arrest.

He was arrested on December 10, 2025, for allegedly abusing his position as Deoria SP in 1999 to fraudulently secure an industrial plot in the name of his wife by using fabricated documents.

In a post on X, Rai claimed Thakur is demanding CCTV footage and call detail records to bring out the truth behind what he termed police excess, but the police under the BJP are refusing to share the evidence.

Rai also alleged that while strongmen, drug mafias, illegal mining operators and those issuing open threats are roaming free, an “honest former IPS officer” has been jailed based on an FIR registered 25 years after an alleged incident.

Thakur is facing harassment and ill-treatment even in jail, where his condition is critical, yet the authorities remain silent, the Congress leader claimed.

“This is not a double-engine government but a double-standard government, which crushes those who speak the truth and protects the criminals,” Rai alleged, adding that Congress stands firmly with Thakur and will continue to raise its voice against the “injustice” meted out to him. PTI CDN ARI