Rohtak ASI ‘suicide’: Haryana Police register abetment case

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Police have registered an abetment of suicide case in connection with the death of Assistant Sub-Inspector Sandeep Kumar Lathar based on the note and video he left behind, a senior police official said on Thursday.

Sandeep Kumar, who was posted in the cyber cell in Rohtak, allegedly shot himself on Tuesday. In a six-minute video and a written note, he levelled corruption allegations against late IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar, who had served in the same district, and also made references to the officer’s wife, senior bureaucrat Amneet Kumar. The FIR was filed on Wednesday following a complaint by Sandeep Kumar’s wife.

Chief Minister Nayab Saini has assured his wife a job and would also take care of the studies of his children, Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar said after visiting the grieving family in Rohtak on Thursday.

He termed the alleged suicides of Inspector General Puran Kumar and that of Sandeep Kumar a week later very unfortunate. Khattar cautioned against politicising the incidents, saying, “Unfortunately, in the first incident, some political leaders tried to give it a political and caste colour which was not appropriate. I appeal to both families and society members not to turn this issue into a matter of community or caste, nor allow any politics over it.”

In his note, Sandeep Kumar claimed that Puran Kumar took his own life “to avoid family humiliation” and urged authorities to probe the family’s assets. Puran Kumar, 52, who was serving as Inspector General at the Police Training Centre in Rohtak’s Sunaria, was found dead with a gunshot wound at his Chandigarh residence on October 7.

According to police sources, ASI Sandeep Kumar played a role in the arrest of head constable Sushil Kumar, who was IG Puran Kumar’s PSO.