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Hyderabad: Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday met the family of senior Haryana IPS Dalit officer Y Puran Kumar, who allegedly died by suicide, to offer his condolences.

Vikramarka visited Kumar’s family in Chandigarh and consoled his wife, senior IAS officer Amneet P Kumar, who serves in Haryana, along with other family members, a release from the Telangana deputy chief minister’s office said.

Fifty-two-year-old Kumar, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service officer, allegedly shot himself at his Sector 11 residence in Chandigarh on October 7.

Vikramarka enquired about the circumstances leading to the incident and assured the family that the Telangana government would stand by them.

During his visit, he also connected Kumar’s wife and family with Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over the phone.

Reddy expressed his deep condolences and assured full support to the grieving family, the release added.

The deputy chief minister also met Haryana Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi and urged that, based on the contents of the suicide note, strict legal action be taken against all those responsible, regardless of their positions, to ensure justice for Kumar’s family.

“Puran Kumar was an exceptionally talented officer—an engineering graduate from Osmania University (Hyderabad) and an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad. It is deeply disturbing that he was driven to take his own life due to caste-based discrimination and harassment by senior officers. The suicide note must be treated as a dying declaration,” Vikramarka said.

He alleged that despite several days passing since the incident, the government has not taken any action.

Vikramarka demanded that the Haryana government and Chandigarh Police ensure justice for the family.

“It is shocking that the BJP government promoted Kapur, an officer known for his anti-Dalit attitude, to the post of DGP,” he added.

In an eight-page “final note” purportedly left behind by Kumar, he named eight senior IPS officers, including Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and former Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya, alleging harassment and attempts to malign his image.

The note also detailed instances of caste-based discrimination and other forms of harassment by some officers.