‘Will not tolerate at all’: UP CM adviser Awanish Awasthi slams talk of ‘Rs 50 cr theft at his bungalow’

In a post on Wednesday night, Awasthi slams those tarnishing his image. Earlier, retired IPS officer Amitabh Thakur wrote to CM urging high-level probe into the alleged theft.

File photo of UP CM's adviser Awanish Kumar Awasthi | X/@AwasthiAwanishK

Lucknow: After several public personalities came out over the alleged theft at a bungalow of  a retired civil servant, Awanish Kumar Awasthi, adviser to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, slammed “false allegations” brought against him and warned of taking “a strong and decisive legal action” in the matter.

In a post issued late Wednesday night, Awasthi wrote that several allegations against his image were being made viral on social media platform ‘X’ and video sharing platform ‘YouTube.’

“I strongly condemn these baseless claims and want to make it clear that a strong and decisive legal action is being taken against every entity involved in this particular incident. Since the beginning of my career, I have been committed to my work and have had an unblemished career of 37 years in the civil service, therefore such malicious attempts to deliberately tarnish my image and rumour-mongering bereft of facts nor attributable to any credible source, are unwarranted and will not be tolerated at all by any means,” Awasthi posed on ‘X’.

The retired IAS officer from the 1987 batch also advised “miscreants to refrain from spreading false claims any further”.

“I have served my state and my nation with utmost devotion and hard work. Let this serve as a notice to everyone who proceeds with these malicious intentions,” he added.

It has come to my notice that several false allegations against my image are being made viral on a social media platform called 'X' and Video Sharing Platform called 'YouTube'. I strongly condemn these baseless claims and want to make it clear that a strong and decisive legal…

— Awanish K Awasthi (@AwasthiAwanishK) September 25, 2024

Awasthi was appointed the adviser of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath 15 days after his retirement in 2022. Prior to his superannuation in August that year, Awasthi was serving as the additional chief secretary (home).

Several journalists, including those based in Delhi and Noida, have shared posts regarding the theft that is said to have taken place in Uttarakhand’s Bhimtal town. Some of the posts and videos mention that the amount purportedly could be as much as Rs 65 crore. One of the videos on YouTube is now not accessible to viewers seemingly after the post put up by Awasthi.

The statement from the CM’s adviser came hours after retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Amitabh Thakur wrote to CM Yogi Adityanath urging a high-level probe into a media report of alleged theft of  Rs 50 crore from the bungalow in Uttarakhand.

“A few days back, news reports have emerged that an alleged theft of Rs 50 crore has taken place in the bungalow belonging to former bureaucrat and present adviser to government Awanish Awasthi and located in Uttarakhand’s Bhimtal…in sequence to the same, I have written a letter to UP CM Yogi Adityanath informing him about the facts and demanded that a high-level committee under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge be constituted to conduct an impartial probe,” Thakur, the national president of Azad Adhikar Sena, said in a video statement Wednesday on ‘X’.

पूर्व आईएएस और यूपी सरकार के सलाहकार अवनीश अवस्थी के उत्तराखंड स्थित बंगले से कथित रूप से 50 करोड़ चोरी हो जाने के आरोपों की योगी आदित्यनाथ से जांच की मांग@UPGovt @CMOfficeUP @Uppolice @ukcmo @uttarakhandcops pic.twitter.com/Jp7GKUP5x4

— Amitabh Thakur (Azad Adhikar Sena) (@Amitabhthakur) September 25, 2024

In his letter to the CM, Thakur has mentioned about a news report dated 24 August published in leading Hindi daily Amar Ujala and an ‘X’ post by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav about the alleged theft.

“Former CM Akhilesh Yadav tweeted the following on this: “Rishta yeh hamjoli-sa hai, chor ke ghar me chori sa hai (This relationship is like that of a playmate…the one of a theft in the house of a thief),” Thakur has mentioned in his letter dated 25 September.

ThePrint has seen the contents of the letter.

The news clipping posted by Akhilesh mentions how the retired bureaucrat was “maintaining secrecy” about the alleged theft even as the matter had become the pet subject of late-evening parties in bureaucracy circles.

Thakur’s letter states that from the different details presented by “those people who have written or commented on this issue earlier too, it has been highlighted completely that the name being referred to by them pertains to Awanish Kumar Awasthi.”

“You would agree that this fact is very serious in itself. Shri Awasthi is no ordinary officer. While he has served as an IAS officer, he has been a highly powerful bureaucrat in your regime, about whom there was a common belief that he is the closest and most trusted by the UP CM (which means you). This proximity and trust can be easily understood from the fact that he continues to be the adviser to the CM even two years after his retirement,” reads the letter further.

Thakur has further written that under such circumstances, “a high-level and impartial probe” has become absolutely mandatory because Awasthi is seen as “the eyes, nose, ears of the government for the past eight years”.

He further went on to suggest that the Uttar Pradesh government should constitute a high-level probe committee under the chairmanship of a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court to look into the allegations.

(Edited by Tony Rai)