Haryana cop's 'final note' details 'mental harassment', humiliation, names DGP: Sources

Chandigarh: The mystery around the suspected suicide of a senior Haryana Police officer has deepened with a note he left behind naming senior officers, and his bureaucrat wife asking for an FIR against the state police chief. The note left behind by IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, who allegedly shot himself dead at his Chandigarh residence, names "senior officers" and details "mental harassment" and humiliation he faced over the past few years, according to sources. 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. Known for his interventions in matters related to the rights of officers and seniority, Puran Kumar was recently posted as the Inspector General of the Police Training Centre (PTC) in Rohtak's Sunaria. His bureaucrat wife, Amneet P Kumar, who rushed to Chandigarh from Japan, where she was a part of a Haryana government delegation, on Wednesday claimed in a police complaint that her husband's death was the result of "systematic persecution" by high-ranking officers. In her complaint, she requested 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. Both officers could not be reached on the phone despite attempts.

On Wednesday, Amneet Kumar allegedly refused to give permission for the post-mortem of her husband's body till justice was delivered, sources said. In her police complaint, Amneet Kumar said that her husband, who came from the Scheduled Caste community, was an officer of unimpeachable integrity and extraordinary public spirit. Physical and electronic evidence, including the weapon Puran Kumar allegedly used to shoot himself, was seized by a team from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh police said on Tuesday. Sources said that 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." The note alleges caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment, and atrocities the officer was subjected to, the sources said. It mentions 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, they said. Puran Kumar named a few officers who allegedly misused their official positions and authority, and compelled him to kill himself, according to sources. Despite complaints against the officers, they were not investigated, the letter claims, sources said. Meanwhile, Amneet Kumar's complaint read, "This is not a case of ordinary suicide but a direct result of systematic persecution of my husband-an officer from 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 death was caused by the powerful and it has shattered her family. "My children deserve answers. My husband's decades of public service deserves dignity, not silence," she said. Puran Kumar's 'final note' mentions an instance where a bureaucrat, now retired, did not sanction his earned leave on time, due to which he could not visit his father before his death. It says that he raised these issues before many officers, "which are a matter of record," sources said. The note alleges that some officers left no stone unturned in harassing him by their "discriminatory, caste based mental harassment and humiliation in public view." "... I thought over carefully and was convinced and I cannot bare 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," it reads, according to the sources.

Puran Kumar alleges that no action was taken when he complained against a fellow officer, "which clearly is proof of prejudicial treatment against me." He alleges 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 says he even approached a senior bureaucrat requesting him to intervene, but in vain, sources said. The note mentions that while allotting official accommodation to him in Panchkula, Kumar was subjected to additional rules, while in another incident, in November 2023, his official vehicle was withdrawn. Congress MP from Ambala, Varun Chaudhary, termed the suicide "deeply tragic and shocking" and demanded a judicial inquiry to ensure a fair and transparent probe into the incident. On Wednesday, Chandigarh police in a statement said they had analysed "some CCTV cameras" in connection with the alleged suicide. "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 for Will and final note were recovered. Some electronic items were also seized from the residence," police said.