LUCKNOW/GORAKHPUR, Dec. 11 -- Former Indian Police Service officer Amitabh Thakur, known for his frequent run-ins with successive Uttar Pradesh governments and compulsory retirement from service in March 2021, was arrested early Wednesday in connection with a 26-year-old industrial plot fraud case dating back to his tenure as the superintendent of police, Deoria, Lucknow police officials confirmed on Wednesday afternoon. After the retired IPS officer's arrest in the 1999 Deoria industrial plot fraud case, his wife Nutan Thakur said, "A 26-year-old matter, which is essentially a normal civil dispute, is now being forcibly turned into a criminal case. This FIR has been lodged under pressure. I will soon present evidence and prove our innocence." Lucknow's deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (West Zone) Vishwajeet Srivastava said Thakur allegedly abused his official position in 1999 to facilitate the allotment of Industrial Plot No. B-2 at the District Industries Centre, Deoria, in the name of his wife Nutan Thakur, using forged identities, fabricated documents, and a false address in Bihar. The DCP said the plot was later sold for personal gain. The DCP further said that the FIR, lodged on September 12, 2025, at Lucknow's Talkatora police station on the complaint of Sanjay Sharma of Rajajipuram, accuses Nutan Thakur of obtaining the plot under the fake name "Nutan Devi" and alleges that Amitabh Thakur misused his authority to support and protect the fraud. He said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probed the matter, verifying old records in Deoria and Bihar, examining witnesses, and collecting documentary evidence. The DCP said the Special Investigation Team found sufficient material to establish the alleged offences. Thakur was arrested at 3.45 am from the Maholi border in Sitapur district after being taken into custody by police in Shahjahanpur while he was travelling by train from Lucknow to Delhi. Shahjahanpur superintendent of police Rajesh Dwivedi said the local police intercepted the Lucknow-Delhi AC Superfast Express around 2 am and handed Thakur over to the Lucknow Police. Later, a Deoria court sent him to 14 days' judicial custody. Over the years, Amitabh Thakur has publicly clashed with different ruling dispensations, regardless of party, on a wide range of issues. This is not the first time Amitabh Thakur has been arrested. Previously, he was arrested in August 2021 after the Lucknow police registered a first information against him and the then Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Ghosi, Atul Rai, on the basis of the findings of a two-member committee probing allegations of fabrication of evidence raised by a sexual assault victim and her male associate who set themselves on fire outside the Supreme Court. The woman and her associate succumbed to burn injuries days later. The charges against Thakur included abetment of suicide. He was granted bail by the Allahabad high court in March 2022. After his compulsory retirement, Amitabh Thakur had announced the formation of a new political party, Adhikar Sena. He had also announced he would contest the 2022 state assembly polls but did not actually do so....