IPS 'suicide' case: Athawale says Haryana CM has assured action, wants family's nod for autopsy

Chandigarh, Oct 13 (PTI) Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, on Monday said Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has given an assurance that the guilty in the IPS officer's 'suicide' case will face action and wants the bereaved family to assent to the deceased's post-mortem.

Athawale met IPS officer Y Puran Kumar's family, including his bureaucrat wife Amneet P Kumar, at their residence in Sector 24 here and offered his condolences.

"I spoke with the family. They requested that I speak to the chief minister. I met the CM later in the day, and he told me that he visited the family immediately after his return from Japan trip, in which Amneet P Kumar was part of the government delegation," Athawale said.

The Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said that CM Saini has told him that action will be taken against whoever is found guilty in the 'suicide' case.

"Y Puran Kumar's family says till the time action is taken in the case, the post-mortem should not be done. I also requested the CM that action should be taken immediately," said the Union minister, who is the president of the Republican Party of India (A).

"He (Saini) assured me that anyone found guilty will not be spared. He also told me to request the family to give a nod for the postmortem," Athawale added.

A week has passed since Y Puran Kumar allegedly committed suicide here. Yet there has been no breakthrough in the impasse over the autopsy, with the family wanting the government to act against Haryana police chief Shatrujeet Kapur and then Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya in the matter.

Fifty-two-year-old Kumar, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, allegedly shot himself dead at his Sector 11, Chandigarh, residence on October 7.

After the registration of the FIR, the Chandigarh Police constituted a six-member Special Investigation Team for "prompt, impartial and thorough investigation" into the case.

In an eight-page "final note" purportedly left behind by Kumar, he named eight senior IPS officers, including Haryana DGP Kapur and former Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya, for allegedly harassing and maligning his image.

Kumar also gave accounts of alleged harassment, including caste-based discrimination, by some other officers in the note.

Chief Minister Saini had recently said that "we will probe the matter and whosoever is found guilty, action will certainly be taken against him, no matter how big a person he may be".

Referring to the "final note" left by the deceased officer, Union Minister Athawale said the officer had given reasons behind the decision to end his life.

If such a senior officer has to commit suicide, it means he was going through a lot, he said.

"Because of some people, he took an extreme step, and he has named them... So, I am hoping that action should be taken in the matter," he said. PTI SUN ANU NSD NSD