Cong demands impartial probe into 'suicide' case of Haryana IPS officer

Chandigarh, Oct 9 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday demanded an impartial probe into senior Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar's alleged suicide by shooting himself dead.

Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while demanding an impartial investigation into the "suicide case", said no culprit should be spared and no innocent should be harmed. It is the state government's responsibility to ensure justice in this case, he said, adding that the suicide of such a senior police officer is a tragic incident.

"This incident has shaken the entire state. If such a senior police officer is not safe today, one can imagine the plight of ordinary citizens," the former chief minister said in a statement.

Y Puran Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was found with a gunshot wound in a room in the basement of his Sector 11 house on Tuesday.

In a note he allegedly left behind, Kumar has named many "senior officers" and details "mental harassment" and "humiliation" he faced over the past few years, according to sources.

Congress MP Kumari Selja said the suicide of a Dalit IPS officer in Haryana is an extremely tragic, alarming and deeply painful matter.

A fair, independent and high-level investigation into the entire incident is essential to ensure the strictest action against the guilty, the former Union minister said.

"This is not merely a personal tragedy but a horrifying glimpse into the institutional insensitivity and caste-based discrimination that has been continuously deepening under the BJP rule," Selja posted on X in Hindi.

"Since the year 2020, enduring constant casteist insults, mental harassment and injustice, an officer ultimately had to lose his life -- this highlights the administrative failure of the BJP government and its indifference toward social justice," she said.

Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the alleged suicide of Haryana's senior Dalit IPS officer is shocking, tragic and heartbreaking.

"My condolences to the family," he posted on X in Hindi.

"Is the Haryana BJP government's system so weak or prejudiced that even a Dalit IPS officer of the rank of ADGP is denied a hearing or justice? It is a bitter truth that over the past eleven years, Dalit officers and personnel, in particular, have been discriminated against, marginalised and humiliated," Surjewala alleged.

"I still remember how a senior minister in the BJP government publicly humiliated a Dalit female IPS officer," he said in his post.

Referring to the IPS officer's alleged suicide, Surjewala said that "although Chief Minister Nayab Saini has maintained silence, it is hoped that the Chandigarh administration and the (Union) Home Ministry will listen to Y Puran Kumar's IAS officer wife and give him justice".

Kumar's wife, Amneet P Kumar, on Thursday sought the Haryana chief minister's intervention to ensure immediate registration of an FIR against all the individuals named in the "suicide note" and her accompanying complaint in accordance with the law.

Chief Minister Singh on Thursday went to the official residence of Amneet P Kumar in Chandigarh's Sector 24 and offered condolences to the bereaved family. PTI SUN KSS KSS