E-Paper
Haryana IPS officer’s death about all Dalits, PM and CM should act immediately: Rahul
After meeting family of Y Puran Kumar, Congress leader tells reporters wrong message being sent that “if you’re a Dalit, you can be crushed”.
Haryana Police officer Y Puran Kumar’s death is not about the respect of one family but of all Dalits, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday while asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to act immediately in the case.
Addressing reporters after meeting the family of the senior police officer who was found with a gunshot wound in his Chandigarh home last week, Gandhi said there was systematic discrimination against Kumar to demoralise him and damage his career.
The Congress leader demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini ensure that their commitments to the family are honoured. “My message to the Prime Minister and chief minister is simple, fulfill the commitment you have made to the daughters and allow their father’s funeral to take place with dignity,” he said.
On the removal of Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur, Gandhi that this is a sensitive case and there can be lot of pressures of a serving officer. “The FIR has already been registered. Now arrest those responsible immediately,” he said.
Amid mounting pressure, the Haryana government sent DGP Shatrujeet Kapur on leave and gave additional charge of the director general of police to OP Singh.
Asked if the family had given its consent for post-mortem, Gandhi said, “The family’s message is clear that they want respect for Puran Kumar even after his death. They have said clearly, ‘You disrespected my husband and tried to destroy his career. He committed suicide. Respect him now after his death’. Their demand is legitimate.”
“The family’s demand is not just about their dignity, it’s about the dignity of every Dalit family in India,” Gandhi added.
‘End the drama, let IGP’s daughters get justice’
Gandhi urged the government to “end the drama” and allow the grieving family to perform the final rites of the late IGP with dignity, saying the daughters’ demand was “not for sympathy but for justice and respect”.
Referring to the late IGP’s funeral and, Gandhi said the daughters only wanted their father’s last rites to be conducted with dignity.
He was accompanied by senior Haryana Congress leaders, reflecting the party’s solidarity with the bereaved family, including party leaders Deepender Hooda, Kumari Selja, and Rao Dan Singh, the leader of opposition in the Haryana assembly.
Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Police have issued a notice to IAS officer Amneet P Kumar, the wife of Y Puran Kumar, seeking the laptop belonging to her husband. The laptop is a crucial piece of evidence. The special investigation team (SIT) probing the case believes that the device may hold vital information, including the original draft of the alleged suicide note found on it.
Police sources said that the laptop is intended to be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for digital examination to verify the authenticity of the suicide note.
Investigators aim to confirm whether the note was indeed written by Puran Kumar himself and created on his own laptop.
The same laptop reportedly contains a saved draft of the suicide note, which the police believe was sent via email by the officer before his death. The SIT also aims to determine how many people received the note, the exact time it was sent, and when each recipient accessed the email.
As of now, Amneet Kumar has not handed over her late husband’s laptop to the investigating team. (With PTI inputs)
