Lucknow:
Senior police officer Amitabh Thakur, who was suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government last night, has released the audio of the phone call in which Mulayam Singh Yadav, the chief of the ruling Samajwadi Party, threatened him.
"I am telling you,
aap sudhar jaaiye (mend your ways). This is all I want to say," Mulayam Singh tells the officer in the call on Friday.
Mr Thakur, the state's Inspector General, Civil Defence, was suspended hours after he went to the Centre seeking protection for him and his wife, Nutan Thakur, who has filed a corruption case against a state minister. He alleges that he is being targeted because of the case.
In the audio, Mulayam Singh is heard reminding Mr Thakur about an event that both attended, at a time when he was chief minister.
"You were very
badtameez (insolent)...Everyone took you inside the school and wanted to beat you. I was the one who saved you."
The officer is heard saying: "Sir what's the order..I don't understand."
Without answering him, Mulayam Singh cuts in: "There could be more dire consequences, I am telling you. I went to Patna where your family members requested me to help and save you."
The Samajwadi Party's Gaurav Bhatia yesterday said "
sudhar jaaiye" was a rebuke from Mulayam Singh because the police officer "is violating service rules and because his wife is filing numerous petitions against the government. It is not a threat."
Chief Minister and Mulayam Singh's son, Akhilesh Yadav, also said, "When Mulayam Singh Yadav can scold the chief minister, there is nothing wrong in his scolding an official."
The UP government yesterday said Mr Thakur had been suspended because he was found "guilty of arbitrariness, indiscipline, anti-government stance" among other things.
Earlier, a rape case was registered against Mr Thakur by the Lucknow police on a complaint filed by a woman more than six months ago. The police officer questioned the timing and called it vendetta.