A woman IPS officer was suspended by the Tamil Nadu government on the charge of violating its order by going to Sudan to work for a United Nations (UN) mission on Central government deputation.
Secretariat sources said M Sathyapriya, a 2012 batch IPS officer, was working as deputy commissioner of police in Tiruchirapalli district when she was assigned the UN job.
Routinely, the UN invites young police officers from across the globe for assisting peacekeeping missions in various countries.
In 2012, after such an appeal for volunteers for a mission in Sudan, the Tamil Nadu police department recommended Sathyapriya’s name to the Ministry of External Affairs. Later, after an examination in Delhi, Sathyapriya and three other IPS officers were selected for the UN mission.
However, after being sent to Delhi to clear visa formalities, the Tamil Nadu government asked the Centre to cancel her visit and asked Sathyapriya to return but she had allegedly proceeded with the foreign trip by ignoring the order.
The state government served her the suspension order after the IPS officer returned from the foreign trip, citing “disciplinary” reasons.
She is the second IPS officer in the state in recent times to have been placed under suspension after senior officer G Sampath Kumar faced similar action for allegedly making charges against his colleagues in the context of IPL match fixing scam.