Lucknow, Jul 13 (NDTV): The Uttar Pradesh government has suspended Amitabh Thakur, the senior police officer who had accused Mulayam Singh Yadav -- the chief of the state's ruling Samajwadi Party -- of intimidating him.

Mr Thakur alleges that the SP chief was targeting him as a vendetta, since his wife had filed a corruption case against a minister from his party and later he filed a police case against Mr Yadav. The ruling party claims the officer was violating service rules.

Mr Thakur has also asked the Centre for security, alleging that his life was in danger. An Indian Police Service or IPS officer posted in Lucknow, he has also demanded "that everything since the day my wife Nutan Thakur filed a case against UP minister Gayatri Prajapati should be probed by the CBI."

Hours after Mr Thakur alleged on Saturday that Mulayam Singh had threatened him in a phone call, a rape case was registered against him by the police on a complaint filed by a Ghaziabad-based woman six months ago. Mr Thakur said the timing of the first information report or FIR registered against him shows it is a case of "political vendetta."

"If the government was serious about the complaint, what was the state government doing all these months," he told NDTV today.

The Samajwadi Party has rejected the policeman's allegations. Senior party leader Gaurav Bhatia said the police had taken time to register the case because it wanted to conduct a thorough investigation as it involved a top officer.

Mr Bhatia also denied that Mr Yadav had threatened the policeman on phone. "Mulayam Singh said 'sudhar jaaiye' because he is violating service rules and because his wife is filing numerous petitions against the government. It is not a threat." the SP leader said.

He said Mr Singh had been cordial during the conversation with Mr Thakur, calling him a family member. Mulayam Singh's son Akhilesh Yadav is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Thakur has filed a complaint against Mulayam Singh and submitted to the police what he say is an audio recording of their conversation on phone.