Bid to politicise, give caste colour to Haryana IPS officer death case ‘inappropriate’, says Union Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal

Union Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal on Thursday termed as “inappropriate” the attempt to politicize and color caste the claim that Haryana IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar died by suicide at his home in Chandigarh on October 7. The 52-year-old officer, who served as Inspector General of Police at the Police Training Center in Rohtak, Sunaria, had accused eight senior police officers of “blatant caste-based discrimination”. In one note, he targeted mental abuse, public humiliation and cruelty.

Mr. Lal made these comments during his interaction with media persons at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak; here, he met the family members of Haryana Police Deputy Sub-Inspector (ASI) Sandeep Kumar Lather, who took his life on October 14 after accusing the late IPS officer and his family of corruption in a letter and video. Lather, who was posted to Rohtak’s cyber cell, shot himself to death with his service pistol in Ladoth village, police said.

Terming both the incidents as “very unfortunate”, the Union Minister said that this should not have happened but now is the time to handle the situation well. “Unfortunately, some political leaders tried to politicize the first incident and gave it a caste colour, which was not appropriate.”

Referring to corruption, Mr. Lal said that in both the cases, the real issue was undoubtedly social evil. He added that this is an investigation and a legal matter, and justice will be provided to both families.

The Union Minister also appealed to “community elders” and the two families not to make the two incidents related to caste and community issues and prevent them from becoming politicized.

In return for the compensation given to Lather’s family, Mr. Lal said that they were looking for a job for his wife and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini accepted the request. He added that the state government would “take care” of the education of the police’s children.

Mr. Lal also posted on his X account about meeting the grieving family.

After the post-mortem, Lather’s last rites were performed in the afternoon at his hometown Julana in the presence of villagers, Haryana MP DGP OP Singh and politicians from different parties.

Case recorded

Haryana police said on Thursday that a case of aiding suicide has been registered in connection with Lather’s death based on the note and video he left behind.

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