Chandigarh: Four days after IPS officer Y Puran Kumar allegedly shot himself dead at his Sector 11 residence in Chandigarh, the Haryana government took action on Saturday.
Rohtak Superintendent of Police (SP) Narendra Bijarniya, who was named in the case, has been removed from his post.
IPS officer Surinder Singh Bhoria has been appointed as Rohtak’s new SP, while the posting order of Bijarniya is yet to be issued.
The state government’s action comes after pressure exerted by Kumar’s family members seeking action against the officers named in a ‘final note’ left by the deceased. In that note, 8 senior police officials, including Bijarniya and Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur, have been accused of “blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities.”
Naming the “senior officers” from the state who harassed him over the past few years, Kumar provided details of “mental harassment and humiliation” that he faced.
Kumar, who was from the Scheduled Caste community, alleged in an eight-page typed and signed ‘final note’ that the mentioned officers blatantly misused their official positions and authority, and compelled him to commit suicide, PTI reported quoting sources.
Kumar’s wife Amneet P Kumar, a bureaucrat who had gone to Japan as part of a Haryana government delegation, rushed backed to Chandigarh following his death.
She alleged that her husband’s death was the result of “systematic persecution” by high-ranking officers.
Chandigarh Police registered an FIR in connection with Kumar’s death.
“An FIR under Section 108 rw 3(5) (abetment of suicide) and 3 (1) (r) POA (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has been registered against the accused mentioned in the final note. Further investigations is underway,” Chandigarh Police said in a statement on Friday.
According to the FIR, the officer reportedly shot himself at point-blank range, and a firearm was recovered from the scene. Amit Ratan, the MLA from Bathinda, was already present at the location when police arrived. Police control room was alerted about the incident around 1.40 pm, following which investigation teams reached the spot.
The MLA and a senior police officer went to the basement and found the body of the IPS officer, the FIR stated.
Besides Kapur and Bijarniya, the 52-year-old Kumar named Sanjay Kumar (ADGP), Pankaj Nain (IGP), K Ramachandran (IPS), Sandeep Khirwar (IPS), Sibash Kaviraj (IPS), Manoj Yadav (former DGP, IPS), P.K. Agarwal (former DGP, IPS), T.V.S.N. Prasad (IAS), Amitabh Dhillon (ADGP).
