ASI suicide case FIR names Puran Kumar’s IAS wife, brother-in-law

CHANDIGARH: In yet another dramatic twist in IPS officer Y Puran Kumar’s alleged suicide, Rohtak police on Wednesday registered an FIR under abetment of suicide and criminal conspiracy charges, naming all those mentioned in the final video of ASI Sandeep Kumar Lather, who allegedly shot himself dead on Tuesday after accusing Puran Kumar of corruption.The FIR (number 305) was registered at Sadar police station in Rohtak a few hours after Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini visited Sandeep’s family in Rohtak’s Ladhot village on Wednesday morning and promised justice. The FIR had not been made public at the time of going to print, but according to highly placed officials, four persons are named in it — the deceased Puran Kumar’s wife Amneet P Kumar, an IAS officer of the 2001 batch, her brother and Punjab AAP MLA Amit Rattan, and head constable Sushil Kumar, who was Puran Kumar’s PSO and is now in jail remand in a corruption case.According to multiple sources, the FIR was registered under BNS Secs 108 (abetment of suicide) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) on a complaint from Sandeep’s wife Santosh.Officials said Virendra Badkhalsa, OSD to the Haryana CM, informed Sandeep’s family about the registration of the FIR on Wednesday evening. Only then did Sandeep’s family agree to an autopsy. Around the same time, Puran Kumar’s body was being cremated in Chandigarh, 230km away, after an eight-day impasse.

Sandeep’s body, which the family had kept in a hired freezer, was taken to PGI-MS Rohtak at night. Sandeep was part of the team investigating the case involving Puran Kumar and was also involved in the arrest of Puran Kumar’s former PSO on Oct 5. It was this FIR, registered on Oct 6, that is claimed to be the trigger for Puran Kumar’s suicide as Sushil was alleged to have given a statement that he was demanding money on behalf of Puran Kumar, who was then Rohtak IG.

The Haryana govt found itself battling on two fronts. Amneet and other members of the family had refused to allow an autopsy until action was taken against DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and then Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya, who were among those named by Puran Kumar in his suicide note.