Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said Dalit Haryana police officer Y. Puran Kumar’s death was a result of “systematic discrimination” and demanded the immediate arrest of the officers responsible.

Additional DGP Kumar, who was found dead in his Chandigarh home with a gunshot wound last week, had in a purported suicide note alleged casteist harassment by fellow officers.

His wife Amneet Kumar — an IAS officer — has withheld consent for his autopsy unless former Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and former Rohtak superintendent of police Narendra Bijarniya are named as accused in the FIR. Kapur has been sent on leave, and Bijarniya transferred.

After meeting the bereaved family, Rahul told reporters: “They are government officers.... Three days ago, Haryana chief minister (Nayab Saini) gave them a commitment. He has personally committed that he will initiate action... that commitment is not being fulfilled. And this is causing immense pressure, stress and disturbance to their two daughters and the mother.”

“They are a Dalit couple, and it is absolutely clear that systematic discrimination has been taking place not for a few days but for several years. Other officers were systematically working to demoralise this officer, to damage his career, and to damage his reputation…. What is being conveyed is that no matter how successful you are, no matter how intelligent, no matter how capable, if you are a Dalit, you can be suppressed, crushed and thrown away. And this is unacceptable to us,” he added.

The Congress MP urged Saini and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to honour the “commitment” made to Kumar’s daughters. Chandigarh Police report to the centrally appointed lieutenant governor.

“My message as the leader of the Opposition to the Prime Minister and the chief minister is that the commitment you have given to these two daughters, you fulfil it and let their father’s funeral take place and stop this spectacle. Take action against the officers (the cops that Kumar blamed in the note). This case (in Rohtak) has been falsely filed,” Rahul said.

The Rohtak case refers to a probe into the alleged extortion by a staff member attached to Kumar. Assistant sub-inspector Sandeep Kumar, who was probing the case, was reportedly found dead on Tuesday with a gunshot wound. He left behind a note accusing Puran Kumar of corruption.

Bihar MP Chirag Paswan, a BJP ally and a Dalit leader, also met Puran Kumar’s family on Tuesday. “It’s unfortunate that one officer had to lose his life because of the harassment he faced. It shows how some people are trying to spread the poison of caste in the country…. I assure the family on behalf of the Prime Minister and the home minister that they will get justice,” he told reporters.

Amneet has not yet handed over to the police her husband’s laptop, demanding that the cops follow proper procedure, which includes providing a hash value of the hard disk to ensure data was not corrupted or tampered with.

The Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission has expressed its dissatisfaction over a reply on Puran Kumar’s suicide that it has received from the Chandigarh DGP, pointing out that the police have not attached a copy of the FIR.