Found dead with gunshot wound, IPS officer Puran Kumar was known for speaking up against caste bias, administrative issues

An engineering graduate, Kumar served in several districts of Haryana, including Ambala and Kurukshetra, and also served as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) heading Ambala and Rohtak ranges, besides heading the Home Guards, Telecommunications, and several other key departments. He was due to retire in 2033.

Issues with Haryana government

In recent years, he had been involved in several administrative and procedural disputes with the Haryana government.

In April last year, Kumar returned his official car to the state police department, asking for a car as per his entitlement. Alleging “discriminatory and selective” allotment of official vehicles to IPS officers in Haryana, he wrote to the state’s then chief secretary T V S N Prasad, urging him to look into the matter. At the time, Kumar was the IGP (Telecommunications) and also headed the state police’s Dial-112 Emergency Response project.

Last year, he raised questions about the promotion of IPS officers of the 1991, 1996, 1997, and 2005 batches in Haryana. In his letter to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Kumar stated that the promotions were “illegal because they override the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs based solely on the concurrence of the Finance Department”.

In his letter to Saini, Kumar had mentioned: “On October 11, 2022, I had submitted a representation to the then Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department, TVSN Prasad…requesting that the officers of the 2001 batch be considered for promotion to the DIG rank as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs”. He also demanded that their pay be refixed and arrears be given.

Allegations of caste bias

Kumar further wrote that he believes that his representation was not acted upon because he and his batchmates belong to the SC category. He also claimed that in the state’s Home Department, even files that do not require legal opinion are unnecessarily sent to legal officers.

Kumar alleged that he was being discriminated against on the basis of caste, citing that IPS officers of the 1997 batch had their pay fixed in advance and were granted advance increments. Although those orders were later put on hold, his own promotion was delayed.

Last year, he also lodged five complaints – particularly of “harassment and humiliation” – against a senior IAS officer in less than two months and raised objections on the formation of a committee comprising three former IAS officers on February 8 to probe into his charges.

In March 2023, the government posted him as IGP (Home Guards). However, quoting the gradation list of IPS officers and the IPS 2017 (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Amendment Regulation of Haryana, in October that year, Kumar informed the then chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal that IGP (Home Guards) was not a cadre post in the state.

He added that the Home Department had informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court the same year that the post of IGP (Home Guards) was never created by the state government. Kumar alleged that he was “assigned the post despite there being vacant cadre posts in Haryana in the IGP rank to allegedly insult, humiliate and harass him in public view for over seven months now.”

In 2022, he initiated action over the alleged unauthorised construction of a temple in Police Lines, Sirsa, bringing attention to administrative oversight and triggering a probe into the matter.

Kumar’s wife, Amneet P Kumar, is a senior IAS officer. She is currently in Japan as part of an official delegation led by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.