(MENAFN- Live Mint) The alleged suicide of IPS officer Y Puran Kumar has sent shockwaves across Haryana and Chandigarh, with the Haryana government now suspending a senior police official who was named in what is being perceived as Kumar's suicide note.

Amid this, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has broken his silence on the issue. At a BJP event in the state's Panchkula, Saini was heard saying, "... This is an unfortunate incident. The family has demanded justice. We have assured them that there will be a thorough inquiry. Action will be taken against the accused... There should not be politics on such issues..."

Check out the video of his speech right here:

Amneet P Kumar, the wife of the deceased police official and herself a senior IAS officer, was with the chief minister as a part of a delegation the latter was leading in Japan when the news of her husband's death broke.

Although this is the first public comment by Saini regarding Kumar's death, he had on Thursday visited the official residence of the recently widowed IAS officer in Chandigarh's Sector 24 and offered condolences to the bereaved family.

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Saini's comments also come in the wake of Opposition leaders slamming the BJP government in both Haryana and the Centre over the alleged suicide of Kumar, which they perceive was due to 'caste-based discrimination'.

Y Puran Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was found with a gunshot wound in a room in the basement of his Sector 11 house on Tuesday.

In a note he allegedly left behind, Kumar has named many "senior officers" and details "mental harassment" and "humiliation" he faced over the past few years, according to sources PTI spoke to.

What the Opposition said

Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda , while demanding an impartial investigation into the "suicide case", said no culprit should be spared and no innocent should be harmed. It is the state government's responsibility to ensure justice in this case, he said, adding that the suicide of such a senior police officer is a tragic incident.

"This incident has shaken the entire state. If such a senior police officer is not safe today, one can imagine the plight of ordinary citizens," the former chief minister said in a statement.

Congress MP Kumari Selja said the suicide of a Dalit IPS officer in Haryana is an extremely tragic, alarming and deeply painful matter.

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A fair, independent and high-level investigation into the entire incident is essential to ensure the strictest action against the guilty, the former Union minister said.

"This is not merely a personal tragedy but a horrifying glimpse into the institutional insensitivity and caste-based discrimination that has been continuously deepening under the BJP rule," Selja posted on X in Hindi.

"Since the year 2020, enduring constant casteist insults, mental harassment and injustice, an officer ultimately had to lose his life -- this highlights the administrative failure of the BJP government and its indifference toward social justice," she said.

Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the alleged suicide of Haryana's senior Dalit IPS officer is shocking, tragic and heartbreaking.

"My condolences to the family," he posted on X in Hindi.

"Is the Haryana BJP government's system so weak or prejudiced that even a Dalit IPS officer of the rank of ADGP is denied a hearing or justice? It is a bitter truth that over the past eleven years, Dalit officers and personnel, in particular, have been discriminated against, marginalised and humiliated," Surjewala alleged.

"I still remember how a senior minister in the BJP government publicly humiliated a Dalit female IPS officer," he said in his post.

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Referring to the IPS officer's alleged suicide, Surjewala said that "although Chief Minister Nayab Saini has maintained silence, it is hoped that the Chandigarh administration and the (Union) Home Ministry will listen to Y Puran Kumar's IAS officer wife and give him justice".

With Saini finally speaking on the issue, it remains to be seen whether the Opposition now steps up its attacks on the CM while the investigation progresses.

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