Dalit IAS officer under Lokayukta heat threatens fast unto death

BHOPAL: Controversial IAS officer Ramesh Thete shot off a letter to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday, claiming he is being targeted by Lokayukta for being a Dalit and he would fast till death if arrested or produced in court.
Thete had sent several threat letters to the chief minister and top bureaucrats for in last five years. In 2011, Thete sought permission from the government to launch a protest fast.He had issued a deadline to government to issue promotion orders or allow him to hold fast at Ambedkar statue in the heart of the city.
Ramesh Thete, 1993 IAS batch, was suspended after he was allegedly caught accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in 2002 when he was posted as principal of a technical institute. After being exonerated by court in 2014, Thete was appointed director of Narmada Valley Development Authority. He is currently posted as secretary, Madhya Pradesh Child Rights Protection Commission.
Latest communication came after state government sanctioned permission to prosecute Thete for his alleged role in in land celling scam during stint as divisional commissioner, Ujjain.
Lokayukta’s special police establishment had sought sanction from state government to prosecute Thete in 25 cases against him in connection with illegal disposal of land worth Rs 100 crore to private parties. Government issued sanction this week, said sources.
All 25 FIRs against him pertains to disposal of government plots in Ujjain during his tenure as additional commissioner (revenue) between August and December, 2013. Thete was booked along with then tehsildar, Aditya Sharma, and patwari Aadarsh Jamgade under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
They reopened file of 25 plots acquired by state government under schemes from 1980 to 1990 and re-allotted them to private people. An inquiry was conducted by divisional commissioner, Ashok Pandey, who found state government had incurred losses of Rs 40 crore because of unauthorized disposal of land. Divisional commissioner, Ujjain, had submitted a report against them to government on which Thete got a stay from Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh high court. Recently, Ujjain district administration got the stay vacated.
In his letter to CM, Thete said Lokayukta has targeted him while giving a clean chit to former divisional commissioner, Ujjain, as they belong to upper caste.