Deoria (UP), Jan 14 A petition has been filed before the chief judicial magistrate's (CJM) court here regarding alleged irregularities in the handling of belongings seized during the arrest of former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, who is currently lodged in a jail in this Uttar Pradesh district in connection with a fraud case.
According to the plea, filed by Thakur's counsel Bhimsen Rao before CJM Manju Kumari, the police procedure followed during and after the seizure of the former officer's personal items was questionable.
The court has sought a report from the Kotwali Sadar police and fixed January 23 as the next date of hearing.
Appearing in the court for the petitioner, advocate Praveen Dwivedi said Thakur was arrested on the night of December 9 and 10 from a train in Shahjahanpur. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying about Rs 42,000 in cash, two Android mobile phones, a laptop, clothes and a tube of toothpaste, all of which were seized by the Deoria Kotwali police.
The plea alleges that of the total cash seized, only an amount of Rs 7,208 was handed back to Thakur. It further claims that one of the two mobile phones, which was pin-locked at the time of the former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer's arrest, was found unlocked when returned, raising concerns over possible tampering.
The petitioner has also alleged that even minor items, such as the toothpaste, were not fully returned, which, according to the counsel, raises serious doubts about the safety and integrity of the seized belongings. The unlocking of the mobile phone is particularly serious, the plea has said, as it was linked to UPI and other digital services, potentially involving issues of privacy and violation of legal procedure.
Police are yet to respond to the allegations, officials said.
