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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Siddaramaiah, I will abide by Cong high command decision on leadership issue, says Shivakumar
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Sunday said both he and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will abide by any decision takeb by the Congress high command on the leadership issue in the state.
Speaking to reporters after returning from Delhi, the Congress state president said, he has full faith in the party leadership and that it would take an approapriate decision at the appropriate time.
The remarks comes amid speculations within the party and political circles about a possible leadership change and cabinet reshuffle after May 4, when the results for assembly elections in four states and one union territory, along with bypolls to two assembly segments in the Karnataka are announced.
"I will not speak about political issues before the media. I have already said that when the time comes you will get to know. So I will not tell you," Shivakumar said in response to a question on discussions with the Congress high command during his Delhi visit over the last couple of days.
He asserted that there are no issues within the party, and whatever has been already decided will take place accordingly.
Responding to a question on senior Minister Satish Jarkiholi's reported statement about internal differences, the Deputy CM said, "nothing like that, they (high command) will do what they have to do at the appropriate time."
"There are no issues, we have faith in our party, they will do what they have to," he added.
Asked about the issue of leadership change as the government is about to complete three years in office, Shivakumar said, "... I have never discussed this issue. The CM and I have both said that we will accept whatever and whenever the high command decides, and we will abide by it."
He declined to comment when asked whether any "good news" can be expected by his birthday on May 15.
The leadership tussle within the ruling party has intensified amid speculation about a possible change of chief minister after the Congress government completed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, 2025. The speculation has been fuelled by the reported "power-sharing" arrangement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar at the time of government formation in 2023.
Responding to a question on the BJP's criticism against the Congress government over its decision on internal reservation for Scheduled Castes, alleging injustice to several communities and questioning its intent behind the revised quota formula, Shivakumar said the BJP could not do anything on internal reservation while in power, but the Congress has kept its promise.
"We have found a solution and tried to do justice to all sections among SCs. We have fulfilled the promise made and every one should go together," he said.
Shivakumar warned his party workers against erecting flex banners for his birthday on May 15.
"For May 15, I want to tell everyone that no one should put up flex banners or advertisements for my birthday. If flex are installed I will ensure that cases are registered by authorities against those responsible, whether they are party workers or followers....no one should put such things on roads, this is my personal request," he said, adding that he has asked commissioners of the city corporations to register cases and impose heavy fines.
