Gurugram: In the murky aftermath of Haryana IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar’s suicide, a copy of a purported police charge sheet yet to be presented in court has gone viral on social media.
This is the Rohtak Police’s charge sheet against its head constable Sushil Kumar, whose 6 October arrest in a bribery case was linked to the IPS officer’s suicide the next day.
While the charge sheet has not yet been presented to the Rohtak court trying this case, it is already circulating on WhatsApp groups.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Gulab Singh, the investigating officer in the bribery case, who signed the purported charge sheet on 22 November, confirmed that the document is ready and yet to be submitted in the court.
Rohtak SP Surinder Singh Bhuria didn’t respond to ThePrint’s call and message on the purported charge sheet going viral. The report will be updated if and when he responds.
The purported charge sheet starts with the reproduction of a complaint lodged against Sushil Kumar by Praveen Bansal, a liquor contractor from Sector 2 in Rohtak town. In an interesting development, Bansal moved an application before the Rohtak court on 2 November, seeking a copy of the charge sheet.
Among other things, Bansal said in the complaint mentioned in the charge sheet that he had been getting ransom calls, and that is why he was provided police security. He claimed he faced a constant threat to life since the Bhau gang has a share in his rival liquor contractors’ business.
He said that a few days before he filed the complaint, a policeman, introducing himself as Sushil Kumar, called him to meet in the office of the Inspector General of Police (IG), then held by Y. Puran Kumar.
Bansal alleged that Kumar called him again a few days later. In response, Bansal asked him to come to his office in Rohtak on July 9. Another person, named Jai Bhagwan, was already there when Sushil arrived. And, according to the complaint, Sushil allegedly demanded a monthly payment of Rs 2.5 lakh from Bansal for Puran Kumar.
“He (Sushil) put pressure on me for giving the monthly amount and assured him that IG Y. Puran Kumar will support him fully. He told me to come again to meet the IG and finalise the deal with the IG himself. He again demanded the initial amount of Rs 2.50 lakh and assured to fix his meeting with the IG for further deal,” he has said in the complaint.
The complainant said he had the CCTV footage of Sushil Kumar’s visit with him as proof. The charge sheet mentions that the CCTV footage on a pen drive was being provided separately.
On 6 October, says the purported charge sheet, Sushil Kumar was made to join the investigations and two mobile phones with seven SIMs were recovered from his possession.
The document adds that an analysis of the two mobile phones conducted by Sub Inspector Sandeep Lathar of the Rohtak cyber cell led to the retrieval of two documents. These documents were applications addressed to Puran Kumar regarding ESI Roshan Lal and EHC Sudeep, both of whom had received adverse comments from the SP in their annual confidential reports, including a recommendation for Sudeep’s dismissal from service.
The purported charge sheet mentions a witness, Naveen, who, according to the document, told the police that Sushil Kumar demanded Rs. 1.25 lakh for getting the adverse appraisal report rectified from Puran Kumar.
Sub Inspector Sandeep who analysed Sushil’s phone, as per the charge sheet, is the same person who later committed suicide. In his ‘final note’, he named Puran Kumar’s wife IAS officer Amneet P Kumar, her brother and some others, and said they were responsible for him taking the extreme step.
The purported charge sheet says that Sushil was summoned for questioning again, and he was arrested after it was found that there were sufficient grounds for his involvement in corruption.
A day later, Puran Kumar died by suicide at his home, leaving a note in which he said his gunman Sushil Kumar’s arrest by the Rohtak Police was part of a ploy to eventually frame him.
During interrogation, Sushil allegedly admitted having gone to Bansal’s office and demanded money from him, according to the charge sheet.
The purported charge sheet provides details about the alleged WhatsApp calls and chats between Sushil Kumar and Bansal. It also says that the voice analysis from Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Madhuban, confirmed that the voice in the audio recordings matches Sushil Kumar’s sample.
The FSL report, dated 10 October, states that the voice is identical with a high probability. Complainant Bansal had provided audio recordings of alleged extortion calls.
The purported charge sheet mentions 17 witnesses. Of these, 14 are Haryana Police’s officers or constables and the others are liquor contractor Bansal, Jai Bhagwan and Surender, a resident of Haryana.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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