Former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur held for 'abetting' suicide of Ballia rape victim, her friend
Lucknow, Aug 27: Within hours of announcing his plans to float a political outfit ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur was arrested from his residence in Lucknow on Friday on serious charges, including abetment of suicide of a rape victim and her friend in Delhi recently.
The 24-year-old woman, who had accused Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai of rape in May 2019, died on August 24 after she and her friend Satyam Rai set themselves afire outside the Supreme Court complex on August 16.
Before the suicide, both had shared their pain on social media with the people.
A special investigation team (SIT) was formed to probe into the matter and it submitted its report on Friday.
On the basis of the report, Amitabh Thakur was arrested from his residence and taken to the Hazratganj kotwali, a senior official said.
The SIT, in its report, alleged that a total of seven cases were registered by the accused party (Atul Rai) against the victim and her witness. It claimed that Amitabh Thakur took money from Atul Rai for fabricating false evidence against the rape victim and maligned her image, inciting the woman to commit suicide.
Lucknow Police Commissioner DK Thakur on Friday said the former IPS has been arrested in a case registered after the death of the rape victim.
According to police sources, the case has been registered under section 120-B (conspiracy), 195-A (intimidation to produce false evidence), 218 (preparation of false record by public servant to save any person from punishment), 306 (abetment to suicide) ,504 (breach of public peace) and 506 (intimidation) against MP Atul Rai and Amitabh Thakur on a complaint of senior sub-inspector Dayashankar Dwivedi in Hazratganj Kotwali on the instructions of the SIT.
Reacting to Amitabh Thakur's arrest, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the BJP government in the state.
"The BJP's politics survives only by creating rifts among the people. Now due to the pressure of the BJP government, the police are compelled to work against the police. Such a treatment to a retired IPS is unforgivable," he tweeted in Hindi.
The former Uttar Pradesh cadre IPS officer on Friday morning had announced that he would soon form a new political party.
Amitabh Thakur was given compulsory retirement ahead of time by the government and he had announced to contest against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the assembly elections to be held early next year.
He was given compulsory retirement on March 23 in "public interest" following a decision taken by the Union Home Ministry.
Retd. IPS Amitabh Thakur arrested from his house without any warrant.. after declaring that he will participate in upcoming elections against CM Yogi Adityanath… #amitabhthakur #arrested # pic.twitter.com/78R2biWSYK
— Chitransh kunwar (@Chitranshkunwar) August 27, 2021
The police has forcibly taken @Amitabhthakur without any justification/ providing reasons to the Hazratganj police station.@Uppolice @dgpup pic.twitter.com/P0AlihDpfn
— AmitabhThakur (@Amitabhthakur) August 27, 2021
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Rs 30,000 cr loss a month: Oil companies bleed as fuel prices on hold amid global energy spike
New Delhi (PTI): About Rs 700-1,000 crore loss per day. Rs 30,000 crore every month. India's state oil companies are quietly absorbing a massive financial hit to keep petrol, diesel and LPG prices unchanged even as global energy markets face a turmoil that is bigger than all previous crises combined.
While countries from Japan to United Kingdom have raised petrol and diesel prices by up to 30 per cent since the start of the West Asia conflict, fuel prices in India continue at two-year-old levels.
The war disrupted India's import of 40 per cent of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel), 90 per cent cooking gas LPG and 65 per cent natural gas (used to generate electricity, make fertilizer, turned into CNG and piped to household kitchens for cooking), but state-owned oil companies have maintained uninterrupted fuel supplies with no rationing or shortage at any point in the last 10 weeks.
But this has come at a cost - Rs 30,000 crore under-recovery or loss every month for the three oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The under-recoveries - the gap between input costs and realised retail prices - rose sharply in March/April before tapering a bit. Daily under-recoveries during April were estimated at about Rs 18 per litre on petrol and Rs 25 per litre on diesel, translating into average losses of Rs 700-1,000 crore a day for OMCs, they said.
At a news briefing on developments in West Asia, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said prices in the international markets, on which India relies to meet 88 per cent of its oil needs, have been volatile and supplies impacted.
Crude oil prices which were around USD 70 per barrel two months ago, are now at USD 120, she said. "It has been government's endeavour to keep prices stable so far and that there is no price increase for consumers," she said. "This has hit finances of OMCs... monthly under-recoveries are of the order of Rs 30,000 crore."
She, however, refused to say if retail petrol and diesel prices will continue to hold.
"As I said, the endeavour so far has been to see that there is no price increase," she said.
The three oil marketing companies (OMCs) have worked overtime to keep the supply lines running even when demand spiked due to panic buying.
The government intervention included excise duty reductions and absorption of part of the fuel cost burden. The special additional excise duty on petrol was cut to Rs 3 per litre from Rs 13, while excise duty on diesel was reduced to zero from Rs 10 per litre.
The under-recoveries would have swelled to nearly Rs 62,500 crore had the government not cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre each.
The government, Sharma said, has taken a hit of Rs 14,000 crore a month in cutting the excise duty.
The Centre's effective absorption at peak crude prices was estimated at around Rs 24 per litre for petrol and Rs 30 per litre for diesel.
The February 28 strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran triggered a sharp escalation in West Asia tensions. Energy prices surged as the conflict widened and shipping risks intensified in the Strait of Hormuz - the shipping lane through which India and other countries imported crude oil, LPG and natural gas from Gulf countries. Tanker movement was disrupted.
The companies also faced additional costs from emergency crude sourcing, higher freight charges due to vessel diversions, elevated marine insurance premiums and refinery optimisation expenses. Despite these pressures, fuel and LPG supplies remained uninterrupted across the country.
The surge in crude prices and the decision to shield consumers from higher retail prices placed significant strain on OMC balance sheets and refining margins, sources said.
They added that the measures reflected a policy decision to prioritise consumer stability and economic continuity during a global energy shock.
Sources warned that a prolonged period of elevated crude prices could lead to higher working capital borrowings and force some recalibration of capital expenditure plans. However, investments linked to refining expansion, energy security infrastructure, ethanol blending, biofuels and transition fuels would continue with government backing, they said.
India's approach contrasted with measures adopted by several other economies, where fuel prices rose sharply after the conflict-driven energy shock.
Petrol prices increased by about 34 per cent in Spain, 30 per cent in Japan, Italy and Israel, 27 per cent in Germany and 22 per cent in the United Kingdom, according to estimates. Several countries also introduced rationing, conservation advisories, emergency relief packages or fuel caps.
In India, petrol prices remained Rs 94.77 per litre and diesel at Rs 87.67, with no rationing, mobility restrictions or supply disruptions, they added.
Sharma said the revenues that OMCs earn are used to buy crude oil, build infrastructure to process it into fuel and create channels that will take the fuel to consumers.
Their capex spending is all dependent on the revenues they earn, she added.
