India, Oct. 13 -- The tragic circumstances surrounding the suicide of senior Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar have underlined that allegations of caste discrimination continue to permeate the highest echelons of the Indian officialdom and must be thoroughly probed. Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, shot himself dead at his residence in Chandigarh Sector 11 on October 7, at a time when his wife, senior bureaucrat Amneet P Kumar, was part of a delegation led by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini. An eight-page letter written by Kumar has blamed senior officers, including the director general of police in Haryana and the Rohtak superintendent of police (SP), of "blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities". Despite the damning note, political pressure and public anger, the probe in the case threatened to take the usual route in those involving Dalit victims - the FIR, lodged after outrage, initially didn't name the eight accused or invoke stringent sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which were only added after the family protested and withheld the last rites. Though the Rohtak SP has now been transferred and a special investigation team set up, the government will need to ensure a thorough and transparent probe that affixes accountability without scapegoating anyone. It should not be relegated to the back burner of government priorities. The case also opens the door to a difficult but necessary conversation around caste discrimination in the police and bureaucracy. Honest introspection and course correction will make for a more just and representative administration that serves the citizenry better....