41 Facts About Amitabh Thakur

Amitabh Thakur is an ex-Indian Police Service officer and a political activist.

Amitabh Thakur is currently the President of Azad Adhikar Sena.

Amitabh Thakur was born on 16 June 1968 at Muzaffarpur, Bihar to Tapeshwar Narain Thakur, an Electrical Engineer and Madhuri Bala, a lecturer in Hindi.

Amitabh Thakur was brought up in Bokaro Steel City in present-day Jharkhand, where he got his Matriculation and Intermediate degree from Kendriya Vidyalaya, No-1, Bokaro Steel City in 1983 and 1985 respectively.

Amitabh Thakur entered IIT Kanpur in 1985 from where he got BTech degree in mechanical engineering in year 1989.

Amitabh Thakur has a Fellow Program in Management Degree from IIM Lucknow, equivalent to Doctor of Philosophy, which he got in year 2015 for his thesis work on UP Police.

Amitabh Thakur got his initial field training in Kanpur district, followed by his posting in Gorakhpur, where he had his initial clashes with Yogi Adityanath, who later became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Amitabh Thakur worked as Superintendent of Police in around 10 districts of UP including Pithoragarh, Lalitpur, Deoria, Gonda, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Firozabad, Ballia and Maharajganj.

Amitabh Thakur worked in multiple departments including Intelligence, Vigilance, Anti-Corruption and Police Training Academy.

All through his career, Amitabh Thakur worked for the cause of transparency and accountability of the system.

Amitabh Thakur worked for people friendly policing, giving highest importance to grievance redressal of the poor and the downtrodden.

Amitabh Thakur particularly worked for betterment of the service conditions of subordinate police officers.

Amitabh Thakur advocated for better internal social and functional environment in police.

Amitabh Thakur advocated reduction of power distance in police system and closer interaction between superior and subordinate rank police officers.

Amitabh Thakur had many clashes with different political and administrative masters, because of his strict and non-compromising approach.

In 2006, Amitabh Thakur was posted as SP of Firozabad district.

Amitabh Thakur was selected for the four-year Fellow Programme in Management at IIM Lucknow through the prestigious Common Admission Test.

Amitabh Thakur approached the Government to grant him a study leave for the course.

Amitabh Thakur joined IIM Lucknow and stayed there for 02 years without any salary.

Amitabh Thakur completed his FPM course and came back to service.

Amitabh Thakur alleged that the minister was involved in illegal mining activities.

Amitabh Thakur approached the Central Government, seeking protection for his family.

On 10 July 2015, Amitabh Thakur got a phone call from Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Amitabh Thakur alleged that Yadav had threatened him over the phone call.

Amitabh Thakur released the audio of the phone call, in which Yadav is allegedly heard saying certain sentences of threatening nature: Thakur alleged that Mulayam Singh was unhappy about the complaint lodged by his wife Nutan against the state minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati.

On 11 July 2015, Amitabh Thakur presented a complaint before Hazratganj police station for registration of FIR against Mulayam Singh as regards the alleged phone threat.

Similarly, in the Disproportionate assets case, the investigating agency concluded that the charges were incorrect and Amitabh Thakur had property much lesser than his known sources of income.

Amitabh Thakur had direct altercations during the rule of Bhartiya Janata Party Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Amitabh Thakur had previously been posted in and around Yogi Adityanath's place of activity, Gorakhpur.

The moment Amitabh Thakur initiated its enquiry, he got immense pressure from various powerful corners.

Amitabh Thakur has challenged this retirement in Central Administrative Tribunal Lucknow bench where it is pending.

Amitabh Thakur was granted bail in March 2022 and came out of Jail on Bail almost immediately after the Assembly result.

All through his career as a Police officer, Amitabh Thakur remained a pro-poor, activism oriented person, which often resulted in his direct confrontations with various Governments.

Amitabh Thakur was the founder of the National RTI Forum, a grassroots anti-corruption organisation in India that advocates for government openness under the terms of the 2005 Right to Information Act.

Amitabh Thakur had formed Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences, a human rights organisation.

Amitabh Thakur recorded the dying declaration of journalist Jagendra Singh; the video allegedly indicated the involvement of a state's minister in Singh's death.

In January 2011, Amitabh Thakur filed an FIR against Facebook and some of its users, for offensive comments against Mahatma Gandhi in a Facebook group called "I hate Gandhi".

Amitabh Thakur has authored a story book in Hindi, Dhal Gayi Raat, and has compiled two collections of poems Jaisa Maine Jana Hai and Aatmadarsh.

Amitabh Thakur said the primary aim of Adhikar Sena is to instill the feeling and concept that all the powers and authorities lie in the citizen of India, as bestowed through the Constitution of India and various laws of the Land.

Amitabh Thakur is married to political and social activist Dr Nutan Thakur.

Amitabh Thakur's brother is Avinash Kumar, an IAS officer in Jharkhand.