Haryana IPS suicide row explodes: FIR against 8 top officers named in note; DGP, SP may be sent on leave

Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar

Two days after senior Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar was found dead, and a day after his wife, IAS officer Amneet P Kumar, lodged a formal complaint, the Chandigarh Police late on Thursday registered an FIR against all those mentioned in the officer’s suicide note.

Chandigarh IG Pushpendra Kumar confirmed the development, stating that the FIR (No. 156) was registered at the Sector 11 police station under charges of abetment to suicide and sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The eight-page note, recovered from Kumar’s home, allegedly names eight senior IPS officers, including Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur and Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarnia, alleging prolonged harassment and humiliation.

According to a report by TOI, when asked specifically whether the DGP was named in the FIR, IG Pushpendra Kumar stated that the case had been filed “against everyone mentioned in the suicide note.”

Autopsy still pending

More than 60 hours after Kumar’s body was discovered at his Chandigarh residence, the post-mortem examination had still not been conducted by Thursday night. Despite family consent not being a prerequisite, the police have refrained from proceeding with the autopsy.

As per TOI report, the officer’s family has refused to conduct the last rites until action is taken against those named in the note.

Kumar’s wife, Amneet P Kumar, a 2001-batch IAS officer, personally met Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday and requested the immediate suspension and arrest of all the officers named by her husband.

Meanwhile, the Haryana government is also considering sending DGP Kapur and SP Bijarnia on long leave to defuse the growing tension. The possibility of appointing an interim or officiating DGP during this period is also being discussed, though no formal orders had been issued till Thursday night.

The Haryana Civil Services Officers Association also wrote to the Chief Minister, urging swift action on Amneet’s complaint and recommending that the accused officers be “temporarily removed from positions of power” to prevent any influence on the ongoing investigation.

Political and social repercussions

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi called Kumar’s death a “tragic symbol of the deepening social poison” of caste-based discrimination. "When an IPS officer faces humiliation and injustice due to his caste, imagine what an ordinary Dalit must go through,” he said.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes also took suo motu cognizance of the case and sought an action-taken report from the Chandigarh Police. Several Dalit organisations met Chief Minister Saini on Thursday, demanding that those responsible for “driving the officer to suicide” be immediately suspended and prosecuted.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote in a post on X: "BJP's Manuwadi system has become a curse for the SC, ST, OBC, and weaker sections of this country. The news of the forced suicide of Haryana's senior Dalit IPS officer, ADGP Y. Pooran Kumar, is not only shocking but also a horrifying testimony to social injustice, inhumanity, and insensitivity. My deepest condolences to the family."