Haryana IPS officer’s death: Wife alleges caste-based harassment, seeks FIR against DGP

In an eight-page 'final note', Haryana senior IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, who allegedly died by suicide, detailed the caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities he had faced from his senior officials since 2020. The note detailed the harassment he went through due to his caste background, which prompted his bureaucrat wife, Amneet P Kumar, lodge a complaint against senior officials, including the Haryana DGP.

Puran Kumar (52), a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer, was found dead in a room in the basement of his Sector 11 house in Chandigarh on October 7. He was recently posted as the Inspector General of the Police Training Centre in Sunaria, Rohtak. He was among the many voices advocating for officers' rights and seniority. He belonged to a Scheduled Caste.

Upon hearing the news of his demise, Amneet P Kumar rushed to Chandigarh from Japan, where she was part of a Haryana government delegation. On Wednesday, in her complaint, she claimed Puran was subjected to caste discrimination and his death was the result of "systematic persecution" by high-ranking officers.

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According to the sources, on Wednesday, Amneet Kumar allegedly refused to give permission for her husband's postmortem until justice was served to him. In her complaint, she said that her husband, who came from a Dalit community, was an officer of unimpeachable integrity and extraordinary public spirit.

She urged the registration of an FIR against Shatrujeet Kapur, DGP Haryana, and another senior IPS officer, under Section 108 BNS, 2023 (abetment of suicide) and other relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Her complaint read, "This was not a case of ordinary suicide but a direct result of systematic persecution of my husband, an officer from the SC community, by powerful and high-ranking officers who have used their positions to mentally torture him, ultimately driving him to such an extent that he was left with no other option but to take his life." She alleged that the powerful people caused the death, and said it shattered her family. She also noted that her children deserve answers.

"My husband's decades of public service deserve dignity, not silence," she added. Both officers, she mentioned in her complaint, were yet to respond to the allegations.

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Eight-page final note by IPS officer

According to the sources, Puran Kumar left an eight-page typed and signed final note, which he titled "Continued blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities by concerned senior officers of Haryana since August 2020, which is now unbearable."

It mentioned a "mala fide generation of mischievous anonymous and pseudo-anonymous" complaints against him, floated and processed by some officers for months together to publicly humiliate and embarrass him and damage his reputation, sources said.

He detailed his ordeal of trying to get his earned leave to visit his father before the latter's death. He alleged that a bureaucrat, now retired, did not sanction his earned leave on time, due to which he could not visit his father before his death.

In his final note, Puran Kumar also named a few officers who allegedly misused their official positions and authority, and compelled him to take this extreme measure. He also noted that he complained against these officers many times, but they were not investigated.

The note alleged that some officers left no stone unturned in harassing him by their "discriminatory, caste based mental harassment and humiliation in public view." It read,"I thought over carefully and was convinced, and I could no longer bear this continued and concerted conspiracy to continue with caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment and atrocities any longer, and hence this final decision to end it all."

Puran Kumar alleged that no action was taken when he complained against a fellow officer, "which clearly is proof of prejudicial treatment against me." He alleged that a top-ranking IPS officer from the state made certain comments in his annual performance appraisal report for the period ending March 31, 2024, which were "factually incorrect, purely imaginary, unsubstantiated, loaded with his personal prejudice and in violation of principles of natural justice." He said he even approached a senior bureaucrat requesting him to intervene, but it proved futile, sources said.

The note also mentioned that during an allotment of an official accommodation to him in Panchkula, Kumar was subjected to additional rules. In another incident, in November 2023, his official vehicle was withdrawn.

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Demand for judicial inquiry

Congress MP from Ambala, Varun Chaudhary, termed Kumar's death "deeply tragic and shocking", and demanded a judicial inquiry to ensure a fair and transparent probe into the incident. On Wednesday, October 8, Chandigarh police in a statement said they analysed "some CCTV cameras" in connection with the alleged suicide.

Physical and electronic evidence, including the weapon Puran Kumar allegedly used to kill himself, was seized by a team from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh police said on Tuesday.

"Further, additional rooms in the residence (in Sector 11) which were inaccessible yesterday and were sealed by the CFSL, Sector 36, Chandigarh, wherein another copy of the will and final note were recovered. Some electronic items were also seized from the residence," police said.