2 IPS OFFICERS SACKED OVER ‘LONG LEAVE’

The Centre has terminated the services of two women IPS officer on account of “unauthorised leave for a long period.’’ The officers are Jyoti S. Belur, a 1993batch officer of Uttarakhand cadre and Maria Lou Fernandes, a 1991-batch officer of the Maharashtra cadre. A home ministry order said that their “unauthorised absence” was “deemed resigned”. A few day ago, the ministry had sacked two more IPS officers, Mayank Sheel Chohan and Raj Kumar Dewangan, as they found “not fit” to continue in the service. Officials said Ms Belur, 48, has been absent since 2001 and is currently believed to be based in the UK while Ms Fernandes had in her reply said she was pursuing her Ph.D in the US. Ms Belur’s name had also figured in an alleged fake encounter case which took place in Ghaziabad in 1996 in which four persons were killed. A bullet recovered from one of the bodies was found to have been fired from her official revolver.