FIR registered in Rohtak ASI ‘suicide’ case, Haryana CM Saini visits bereaved family

Haryana Police have registered an FIR in connection with the “suicide” of Assistant Sub-Inspector Sandeep Kumar in Rohtak, a police official said on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini visited the family of the ASI in Ladhot village and offered his condolences. He assured the bereaved family that appropriate action would be taken.

Also read: Rohtak ASI’s FIR standoff over suicide note stalls post-mortem; all-night talks fail, villagers rally in Ladhaut

Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar cremated in Chandigarh; wife hopes for impartial probe into his suicide

ASI Kumar, who was posted in the cyber cell in Rohtak, allegedly shot himself dead on Tuesday, leaving behind a ‘final note’ that levelled corruption allegations against the late IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, who also served in the same district.

Puran Kumar, 52, who had recently been posted as Inspector General, Police Training Centre in Rohtak’s Sunaria, had shot himself dead in his Chandigarh residence on October 7. His last rites were held in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

The FIR has been registered on the complaint of the ASI’s family, the police officer said over the phone.

The body of the ASI Sandeep Kumar was recovered from a relative’s makeshift room in a field along the Ladhot-Dhamar road in Rohtak on Tuesday. His family shifted the body to a relative’s house in the same village.

They have sought “justice” in the case. Authorities were engaged in persuading the family to allow the autopsy.

CM Saini was accompanied by ministers Mahipal Dhanda and Krishan Lal Panwar and senior BJP leader Manish Grover during his visit to Ladhot village to meet ASI Sandeep Kumar’s family.

A relative of ASI Kumar said they requested the chief minister that a thorough probe should be conducted into the alleged ‘suicide’ as he has levelled serious allegations in a video and a note he left behind.

The six-minute video and the suicide note, which the ASI termed his “final note”, purportedly levelled corruption allegations against IPS Puran Kumar and said that the senior officer ended his life “to avoid family humiliation”.

Apart from Saini, political leaders from other parties, including Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and INLD chief Abhay Singh Chautala, visited Ladhot village to offer their condolences.

“The news of the demise of Haryana Police ASI Sandeep is very tragic. Today, upon reaching Ladhot, I paid tribute to the departed soul and met with the family members to console them,” Hooda later said in a post on X.

Talking to reporters, Hooda said the “suicide” of ASI Sandeep Kumar and IPS officer Y Puran Kumar should be thoroughly investigated and there should be a high-court sitting judge-monitored probe.

Abhay Singh Chautala, who also visited the Rohtak village to offer his condolences to the family, demanded a CBI investigation “under the supervision of a sitting high court judge to ensure a fair investigation of the case”.

The ASI’s death came hours after the Haryana government sent state DGP Shatrujeet Kapur on leave late on Monday night, and assigned 1992-batch IPS officer O P Singh the additional charge as Haryana DGP.

The government has transferred Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya.

Kapur and Bijarnia were among the eight officials named by IPS officer Y Puran Kumar in his final note, which pointed to “blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities”.

According to police sources, ASI Sandeep Kumar had played a role in the arrest of head constable Sushil Kumar, alleged to be an aide of Puran Kumar.

Speaking to reporters at the incident site on Tuesday, Rohtak Superintendent of Police SS Bhoria said, “ASI Sandeep was a very hardworking and honest person in our department.”

Levelling corruption allegations against Puran Kumar, the ASI purportedly said in the video that even Bhagat Singh made sacrifices and walked a difficult path, after which the country awakened.

“And today, this country will awaken when we sacrifice ourselves on the path of truth,” he is heard saying, and claiming that “honest officer” Bijarniya had confronted Puran Kumar.

The deceased IG’s name had cropped up in a bribery scandal recently.

The case pertained to a bribery complaint filed by a liquor contractor against head constable Sushil Kumar. The contractor alleged that Sushil Kumar sought Rs 2.5 lakh in the name of Puran Kumar when he was posted in Rohtak.

Kumar, a 52-year-old 2001 batch officer, was known for his interventions in matters related to the rights of officers, seniority and other issues.

The Chandigarh Police has constituted a six-member special investigation team to probe the Puran Kumar case.