Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called off his October 17 visit to Sonepat due to the ongoing deadlock over the autopsy of Haryana-cadre IPS officer Y Puran Kumar and growing pressure on the Nayab Singh Saini government for not addressing the demands of the late officer’s family.
With Haryana ministers and senior officials unable to resolve the stalemate before the PM’s scheduled visit, which is now called off, sources say that trusted aides of Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar are making concentrated efforts to find a breakthrough.
PM Modi was earlier scheduled to attend the ‘Jan Vishwas–Jan Vikas’ programme in Sonepat and launch several new projects to mark one year of the current Haryana government’s third term.
Although no official reason has been given for the cancellation, BJP sources admitted that the situation after the officer’s alleged suicide was not suitable for the Prime Minister’s visit.
The family of IPS Y Puran Kumar has refused to allow the postmortem or cremation until DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur and SP Narendra Bijarniya are arrested. The government has transferred SP Bijarniya from Rohtak and the DGP, who is known to be close to Khattar, has been sent on leave.
In the last 24 hours, Sudesh Kataria, media adviser to Khattar, has visited the deceased officer’s family twice. Khattar, who served as Haryana’s Chief Minister for nine years and is now an MP from Karnal, still holds strong influence in the state.
During his Monday visit, Haryana SC Commission Vice-Chairman Bijendra Badgujar and Information Commissioner Amarjit Singh accompanied Kataria. Singh, who earlier worked as Khattar’s OSD, joined him at the home of IAS Amneet P. Kumar, the officer’s wife. The team stayed for about an hour and tried to convince the family to cooperate with officials.
Sources said Khattar had spoken with CM Nayab Singh Saini before sending Kataria, his trusted Dalit aide, to meet the family. Another close associate, Tarun Bhandari, now Political Secretary to CM Saini, also visited the family four times in 24 hours. Bhandari had earlier served as Publicity Adviser to Khattar during his tenure as CM.
Rajesh Khullar, Chief Principal Secretary to the CM and another long-time Khattar confidant, has also been in touch with Amneet P. Kumar over the past few days but without any success.
In his suicide note, the officer stated that Khattar had instructed the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to keep the chargesheet proceedings against him in abeyance and re-examine the entire matter in the light of supplementary comments submitted by him.
Meanwhile, a Congress delegation led by MP Deepender Hooda visited the officer’s family on Tuesday. Hooda said, “The family is not satisfied with the action taken so far. The entire country, including the SC community, is looking to the state government and the Centre to ensure that justice is delivered and the culprits are punished severely.”
The delegation also included Ambala MP Varun Mulana, Sonepat MP Satpal Brahmachari, and retired IAS officer and MLA Chandra Prakash Jangra. This was Deepender Hooda’s second visit to the family in the past two days.
Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka also met the family. He criticised both the Haryana Government and the Centre for staying silent and not taking action against the accused officers.
From the BJP, Industries Minister Rao Narbir Singh visited the family to offer condolences, while Union Minister Ramdas Athawale was also among those who came to meet them.
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