Haryana ASI commits suicide in Rohtak, names Puran Kumar in purported video and note
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Chandigarh (PTI): A Haryana Police assistant sub-inspector allegedly shot himself dead in Rohtak district on Tuesday, purportedly leaving behind a six-minute video and a three-page suicide note levelling corruption allegations against the late IPS officer Y Puran Kumar.
The veracity of the video and the statement could not be immediately verified.
Police sources said ASI Sandeep Kumar (42) played a role in the arrest of head constable Sushil Kumar, an aide of Puran Kumar who was an inspector general in Rohtak district and was found with a gunshot wound in his Chandigarh home last week.
The body of the ASI, who was posted in the cyber cell of the Rohtak district police office, was recovered from a makeshift room of his relative in the fields on the Ladhaut-Dhamar Road in Rohtak.
Sandeep Kumar allegedly committed suicide on the upper floor of the room that had been built for the motor of the tubewell servicing in his maternal uncle's fields.
After the incident, the family took the body to the house of a relative in the same village.
"We are trying to take a complaint from them (ASI's family) so that FIR can be lodged," a police official said, adding they were also trying to persuade the family to move the body to a mortuary.
Police are yet to comment officially on Sandeep Kumar's note or the video. "Sandeep shot himself," a senior police official from Rohtak said over the phone.
His alleged suicide comes against the backdrop of the escalating controversy over the death of IPS officer Puran Kumar, who purportedly left a note accusing eight officers, including DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya, of "blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities".
While the government has sent DGP Shatrujeet Kapur on leave, Bijarniya was transferred last week and was replaced by S S Bhoria as Rohtak SP.
Meanwhile, Rohtak Police said they received information that ASI Sandeep Kumar had committed suicide by shooting himself with his service pistol.
"A suicide note was found near the body. Furthermore, a video was also recorded by Sandeep Kumar before his alleged suicide, which is being investigated by the police," an official said.
Talking to reporters at the site of the incident, Rohtak Superintendent of Police S S Bhoria said, "ASI Sandeep was a very hardworking and honest person in our department. We received information that a body had been found, after which we reached here."
Asked about the video and the note, he said, "To say anything at this stage is difficult... the forensic team is investigating."
In the video, Sandeep Kumar purportedly levelled serious allegations against Puran Kumar, saying even freedom fighter Bhagat Singh made sacrifices and walked a difficult path after which the country awakened.
"And today, this country will awaken when we sacrifice ourselves on the path of truth," he is purportedly heard as saying while claiming that "honest officer" Narendra Bijarniya had confronted Puran Kumar.
Sandeep, in the video and the alleged suicide note, also demanded that a "probe must be conducted", which will look into the assets of Y Puran Kumar and his family members.
Puran Kumar's name had cropped up in a bribery scandal recently.
A liquor contractor in Rohtak filed a bribery case against head constable Sushil Kumar. He alleged that Sushil Kumar sought a bribe of Rs 2.5 lakh in Puran Kumar's name (when he was posted there).
Sushil Kumar was arrested recently.
Puran Kumar, 52, had recently been posted as inspector general, Police Training Centre (PTC), in Sunaria, Rohtak.
The Rohtak Police, meanwhile, said they stand with the ASI's family in this hour of grief and appealed to the public to maintain peace and law and order.
ASI Sandeep Kumar is survived by three children and five sisters, police sources said.
His relative Sheeshpal, who lives in Julana, said that Sandeep used to do a lot of work for society and was an active blood donor.
He was an honest officer, he said.
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BJP, Opposition in war of words after Constitution Amendment Bill defeat
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP and the Opposition on Saturday engaged in a war of words over the issue of the implementation of women's reservation in legislatures, with Union minister Kiren Rijiju saying the parties which stalled the Constitution Amendment Bill will face the wrath of women.
The Opposition accused the government of delaying implementation by linking it with delimitation and using it to serve its political interests.
While the BJP termed the development a “black day” and accused the Congress and other opposition parties of betraying women, the Congress and its allies asserted that the quota law, passed in 2023, should be implemented immediately and accused the government of playing politics over it.
Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Kiren Rijiju accused the Congress of being anti-women, and said it will have to face their wrath across the country.
“They will have to face the anger of the women of the country. This is a black stain on the Congress and its allies, one that they will never be able to erase. This Bill was about giving historic representation to women—what objection could there have been?” he told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
"The opposition is celebrating after depriving women of their rights; women of the country will teach them a good lesson," he added.
Union minister Shobha Karandlaje targeted Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the Opposition’s actions had undermined both women’s empowerment and regional representation.
“They have harmed south India as well, where seats could have increased by over 50 per cent. Women were supposed to get reservation, but they have been denied that opportunity. This has been done under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi,” she alleged.
BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj accused the Congress and the INDIA bloc of deceiving women and backtracking on their earlier stand. “They have betrayed the trust of women, and we will take this story of your deception to every citizen,” she said.
Swapna Verma, general Secretary, BJP (Madhya Pradesh) Mahila Morcha, said, “Congress and its INDI alliance have once again exposed their anti-women mindset. Despite the sincere appeal of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for collective, and non-partisan support, those driven by political obstinacy chose to defeat not just a Bill, but the aspirations of an entire nation.”
Opposition leaders accused the government of delaying implementation and using the issue for political gain in Assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the opposition is not against women’s reservation, but has objected to its linkage with delimitation. “We are fully in support of women’s reservation and would have happily passed the Bill on Friday itself. Our objection was not to reservation, but to linking it with delimitation,” he said.
Tharoor said delimitation raises “fundamental questions” about the country’s future and cannot be rushed.
“This is a very important issue for India’s unity and democracy. It requires serious, wide-ranging discussion -- not something to be decided in a two-day session.
Alleging political motives, he added, “This was a political game, not about women. Women were being used to serve short-term political interests. If the government brings a new Bill in the Monsoon Session without linking it to delimitation, we will pass it.”
"There must be a serious discussion involving all parties and states, especially in light of future Census data and the framework for a new delimitation exercise.”
Congress MP K C Venugopal said there is no disagreement on women’s reservation and demanded its immediate implementation.
“Their agenda was to link delimitation with women’s reservation, which has failed. They wanted delimitation according to their convenience, like in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, by redrawing constituencies. That has failed.
“We demand that, without any delay, the 2023 women’s reservation law be implemented,” he said.
CPI(M) leader John Brittas alleged that the government’s strategy had been exposed in Parliament.
“The dubious and diabolical game plan of the government has fallen flat. They were using women as a shield to mislead the nation. If they have even an iota of sincerity, let them implement one-third reservation based on the present strength of legislatures,” he said.
“The opposition will jointly defeat any ulterior motives and designs of this government,” he added.
Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav questioned the legislative process and alleged political motives. “This historic Bill was already passed in 2023. Why was there a need to bring amendments again? Even after that, the earlier law was notified. So what was the need for discussion and voting?” he asked.
“The whole country knows this was done with elections in West Bengal in mind. When you knew you did not have a two-thirds majority, what was the point of bringing it? This shows there was a political angle, not genuine intent,” he said.
The Constitution Amendment Bill, which sought to operationalise women’s reservation and increase the strength of the Lok Sabha, was defeated in the Lower House on Friday as it failed to secure the required two-thirds majority.
While 298 members voted in favour of the Bill, 230 voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for passage.
According to the Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to operationalise the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. Seats were also to be increased in state and Union Territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
