 "Haryana IPS death case: Did caste-based discrimination drive Y Puran Kumar to take his own life?")
A Haryana-cadre IPS officer, Y Puran Kumar, 52, was found dead at his Chandigarh home with a gunshot wound on Tuesday, leaving behind a suicide note that has since shaken the state.
In it, Kumar alleged “caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment and atrocities” by several senior officials, including nine serving IPS officers, a retired IPS officer, and three retired IAS officers.
The cop’s wife, IAS officer Amneet P Kumar, has accused Director General of Police (DGP) Shatrujeet Kapur and Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya of driving her husband to suicide through a “well-planned conspiracy”, reported The Indian Express.
She alleged they tried to frame him in a “false and fabricated” case. Following her complaint, Chandigarh Police registered an FIR under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the Haryana top cop.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer denied all the allegations and said these were a response to the government’s “crackdown on corruption”.
Here’s a closer look at the case and the storm it has triggered within Haryana’s police and bureaucracy.
What did Kumar’s ‘final note’ say?
In an eight-page note titled “Continued blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities by concerned senior officers of Haryana since August 2020, which is now unbearable,” IPS officer Puran Kumar detailed what he described as years of humiliation and bias that pushed him to the edge.
Belonging to a Scheduled Caste, the 52-year-old officer wrote about facing “mental and administrative torture” from his superiors. He claimed he was targeted for visiting a temple, denied leave that prevented him from meeting his dying father, assigned to “non-existent posts”, and subjected to “false and malicious proceedings”.
Kumar, a 2001-batch IPS officer serving as Inspector General at the Police Training Centre in Sunaria-Rohtak, said he made several appeals seeking “equity of treatment as an IPS officer.”
These included requests for fair application of service rules regarding religious places, timely approval of earned leave, entitlement-based vehicle and housing allotments, and adherence to Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines for promotion and cadre management. But, he alleged, all his complaints were ignored or used “vindictively and in a revengeful… and mala fide manner.”
As per sources, the note also referred to fabricated anonymous and pseudonymous complaints allegedly circulated by some senior officers to tarnish Kumar’s reputation. Despite several representations, no inquiry was ever initiated into these complaints, the note claimed.
According to his note, he repeatedly raised these issues with senior officials but received no response.
“Continued discrimination by not giving me my arrears, posting on non-existent posts, not finalising representations, including performance appraisal reviews-related representations, humiliating, harassing and insulting me in public view, deliberate and continued attempts to initiate false, vexatious and malicious proceedings against me… that too based on anonymous/pseudonymous complaints… compelled me to take this extreme step as I cannot bear this any longer,” he wrote.
The cop then allegedly shot himself in the head with his service revolver while seated on a chair at his house in Sector 11, Chandigarh. He was found dead by his daughter.
A senior Chandigarh Police officer then confirmed that the purported suicide note is being examined and that the allegations made in it are under inquiry. The names of the senior officers, the official added, cannot be disclosed at this stage.
Family’s allegations
Kumar’s wife, Dr Amneet P Kumar, a senior IAS officer, was on an official trip to Japan when the news of his death reached her. She flew back immediately and filed a police complaint, accusing senior Haryana officers of driving her husband to suicide through “systematic persecution”.
In her complaint, she alleged that powerful officers misused their positions to humiliate and mentally torture Kumar for years. “This is not a case of ordinary suicide but the outcome of relentless harassment by powerful officers who drove him to the brink,” her complaint stated.
Dr Amneet named DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and another senior IPS officer, urging that an FIR be registered against them under abetment to suicide provisions and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. She said the eight-page note left by her husband was “a document of a broken spirit” that “lays bare these truths and names of numerous officers whose relentless actions pushed him to the edge.”
According to reports, she also refused to allow the post-mortem until action was taken against those named in her complaint. “She has told the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary that she wants justice and will not agree to a post-mortem examination until a case is registered. She has questioned how those responsible for her husband’s death can go scot-free,” sources told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Chandigarh Police have recovered the weapon and collected electronic and physical evidence from the spot. A team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) has been asked to examine the materials.
Congress reacts
Congress leaders have strongly condemned the death of Haryana IPS officer, alleging that caste-based discrimination played a major role in pushing him to take his own life.
Rahul Gandhi called Kumar’s death a reflection of “deepening social poison” in society. In a post on X, he wrote, “The suicide of Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar is a symbol of the deepening social poison that is crushing humanity in the name of caste.” Gandhi added that the officer was forced to “endure humiliation and oppression” because of his caste.
हरियाणा के IPS अधिकारी वाई पूरन कुमार जी की आत्महत्या उस गहराते सामाजिक ज़हर का प्रतीक है, जो जाति के नाम पर इंसानियत को कुचल रहा है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 9, 2025
जब एक IPS अधिकारी को उसकी जाति के कारण अपमान और अत्याचार सहने पड़ें - तो सोचिए, आम दलित नागरिक किन हालात में जी रहा होगा।
रायबरेली में हरिओम…
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also blamed the BJP’s “Manuwadi system” for the tragedy.
In his post on X, Kharge wrote, “The BJP’s ‘Manuwadi’ system has become a curse for the SC, ST, OBC and weaker sections of this country. The news of the forced suicide of Haryana’s senior Dalit IPS officer, ADGP Y Puran Kumar, is not only shocking but also a horrific testament to social injustice, inhumanity, and insensitivity. My deepest condolences to the family.”
The party’s leaders have demanded a thorough investigation into the allegations raised by Kumar in his note, calling the incident a grim reminder of the caste discrimination that continues to exist within India’s institutions.
With input from agencies
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