Tougher charge, punishable with life term, added to IPS suicide case

CHANDIGARH: Police on Sunday pressed a more stringent section of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the case related to the alleged suicide of IPS officer Y Puran Kumar , following strong objections from his wife Amneet Kumar .

Amneet had accused police of "diluting" the case by invoking Section 3(1)(r) of the SC/ST Act - which carries a minimum six-month jail term, extendable to five years - instead of Section 3(2)(v), which provides for life imprisonment if the offence is motivated by caste.

Puran Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch Haryana cadre officer, was found dead at his Chandigarh home on October 7.

16 senior IAS, IPS officers mentioned in 'suicide note'

Accepting the demand of Amneet Kumar, wife of IPS officer Y Puran Kumar who allegedly died by suicide, SSP Chandigarh Kanwardeep Kaur said Sunday Section 3(2)(v) has now been added "in addition to" existing charges. The FIR also includes Section 108 of BNS , which deals with abetment of suicide & carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Puran Kumar's suicide note named around 16 senior IAS and IPS officers, including Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and then Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya, alleging caste-based harassment and humiliation.

Amneet - a 2001-batch IAS officer - told police in a written complaint Friday that "the names of the accused persons (1) Shatrujeet Kapur (2) Narendra Bijarnia have not been entered in the FIR", despite their alleged role being the "trigger point" for her husband's death. She requested Chandigarh police to list all accused clearly under column 7 of the FIR document.