Rahul Gandhi meets family of Haryana IPS officer Puran Kumar in Chandigarh

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met the family of Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, who allegedly died by suicide.

After landing at the airport here, Gandhi reached Kumar's residence in Sector 24 at 11:08 am to offer his condolences.

He was accompanied by former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Rao Narender Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda, and Congress MLA Varun Chaudhary.

Gandhi's visit came amid stepped up attack by the opposition on the Haryana government over Kumar's alleged suicide.

A 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Kumar allegedly shot himself dead on October 7.

In an eight-page final note purportedly left behind by Kumar, the 52-year-old accused eight senior IPS officers, including Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and now-transferred Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya, of “blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities.”

The IPS officer's wife -- senior IAS officer Amneet P Kumar -- has demanded that Kapur and Bijarniya be named in the FIR for allegedly abetting her husband's suicide.

The officer's family, which is also seeking their arrest, has refused to give consent for a postmortem and cremation until its demands are addressed.

Various political leaders cutting across party lines have been visiting Kumar's family in Chandigarh to express their condolences. — with PTI