A local court on Friday allowed the Chandigarh Police’s plea, seeking the handing over of Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar’s laptop to the special investigation team (SIT) probing his suicide.
Kumar had shot himself at his residence in Sector 11, Chandigarh, earlier this month.
Police had sought directions from court to the IPS officer’s wife, Amneet P Kumar, who is a senior IAS officer, asking her to handover the laptop — an Apple Mac Book Pro —used by Kumar to type his “final note”.
The court allowed the police plea on the condition that the data will not be erased and a proper back-up of the laptop will be taken before seizing it. The court also directed the police to prepare a seizure memo.
In the reply filed to the plea, Amneet had agreed to hand over the laptop only if these conditions are fulfilled.
The laptop is a key piece of evidence, which the police will now be sending for forensic testing to establish the authenticity of the suicide note. Police also want to probe how many recipients the suicide note had and when the recipients saw it.
“The delay or non-seizure of the laptop was solely on account of the SIT’s inability to complete the procedural and technical requirements and not due to any hesitation or non-cooperation on my part,” she had told the police in her reply.
{{/usCountry}}“The delay or non-seizure of the laptop was solely on account of the SIT’s inability to complete the procedural and technical requirements and not due to any hesitation or non-cooperation on my part,” she had told the police in her reply.
{{/usCountry}}Around 1.30 pm on October 6, 52-year-old Kumar was found dead in the basement of his Sector 11 house. The 2001-batch IPS officer is believed to have shot himself dead with his service revolver. A note found later accused 10 senior and retired police officers of “blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities”.