In a shocking development, another police officer has allegedly shot himself dead in Rohtak, Haryana accusing the deceased ADGP Y Puran Kumar of corruption and caste-based discrimination, police said. Identified as Sandeep Lather, the police official’s body was found under suspicious circumstances in a room built near an agricultural field in Rohtak’s Ladhot village.

ASI Sandeep left behind a 3-page suicide note and a video, accusing IPS Y Puran Kumar of corruption and other graft charges. This comes as the Haryana police probes the suicide case of Kumar who, in his 9-page suicide note, had blamed DGP and other top officials of the state for discrimination based on caste, corruption and mental harassment.

Now, a cop killing self while accusing the deceased IPS of the same charges has further exploded the police system in the state.

Speaking on Sandeep’s death, SP Rohtak Surendra Singh Bhoria said, “This was a hardworking ASI of our Police Department, Sandeep. He was very honest and hardworking. His body has been found. A Forensic team has been called here and an investigation is being carried out…He was posted in Cyber Cell.”

“Sandeep shot himself,” a senior official said. When asked about speculation over a suicide note, the official said, “We are checking. Investigations are at a preliminary stage.”

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IPS Puran Kumar suicide case

Fifty-two-year-old Kumar, a 2001-batch IPS officer, was found dead at his Chandigarh home on October 7. He allegedly shot himself dead, and left behind a long suicide note. He named DGP Shatrujeet Kapur, and several senior officials and blamed them of mental harassment, caste-based discrimination among others.

Following the case, an FIR was registered and the Chandigarh Police constituted a six-member special investigation (SIT) team to investigate the case.

During the past few days, many political leaders visited Kumar’s family here to offer their condolences, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi scheduled for a meeting with the officer’s family on Tuesday.

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DGP in question sent on leave

Following the outrage, the Haryana government has sent State DGP Shatrujeet Kapur on leave amid opposition’s attack on the BJP dispensation over IPS officer Y Puran Kumar’s alleged suicide, and demand by Kumar’s family for action against the officers accused of harassing him.

The late-night development came days after the state government had transferred Narendra Bijarniya, the then Rohtak’s Superintendent of Police.

“Yes, the DGP has been sent on leave by the government,” said Rajiv Jaitly, media adviser to the Haryana chief minister. In the eight-page “final note,” purportedly left behind by Kumar, he accused eight senior IPS officers, including Kapur and 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.