‘Deeply hurt’: Kharge writes to wife of late Haryana IPS officer, extends support

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has written to the wife of Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, who committed suicide alleging harassment by his seniors, extending support in her fight for justice as he said the Haryana officer ended his life “battling social prejudices and disparities”.

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In his letter to Amneet P Kumar, Kharge also said “it is shameful that we have failed to empower those entrusted by the Constitution with the responsibility of alleviating the suffering, distress, and pain of the people”.

The Congress chief said he was overwhelmed with deep sorrow and anguish and have been left speechless by the happening. He has assured Amneet P Kumar that the questions raised by the late IPS officer will reach a decisive conclusion.

“Your husband, senior IPS officer ADGP Y. Puran Kumar Ji of the Haryana cadre, has ended his life while battling social prejudices and disparities. This incident has deeply hurt my heart.

“In the long experience of my life, I have witnessed many events closely, but this tragic incident, caused by bias and discriminatory thinking, has caused immense pain to me and all those comrades fighting for social justice,” Kharge said in his letter.

“While we take pride in planting our flag on the moon, it is shameful that we have failed to empower those entrusted by the Constitution with the responsibility of alleviating the suffering, distress, and pain of the people,” he said.

“In this hour of grief, we all stand with you. The questions he has raised will reach a decisive conclusion. You, too, will need great patience and courage,” he also said.

Y Puran Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was found dead with a gunshot wound in a room in the basement of his Sector 11 house in Chandigarh on October 7.

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 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, has claimed in a police complaint that her husband’s death was the result of “systematic persecution” by high-ranking officers.

In a ‘final note’ purportedly left behind by Puran Kumar, he had accused eight senior cops, including Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur, of “blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities”.