2 women IPS officers terminated for 'unauthorised' absence

The government has terminated the services of two women IPS officers who were facing inquiry for "unauthorised leave" for a long period.
Maria Lou Fernandes, a 1991-batch officer of Maharashtra cadre, and Jyoti S Belur, a 1993-batch officer of Uttarakhand cadre, were removed from the services by terming their unauthorised absence as "deemed resigned".
The Home Ministry's decision comes weeks after two senior IPS officers - Mayank Sheel Chohan, a 1998-batch UT cadre officer, and Raj Kumar Dewangan, a-1992 batch Chhattisgarh cadre officer - were sacked by the government after they were found "not fit" to continue in the service due to their "non-performance".

Fernandes (50) has been absent from duty since 2005 when she had served as DCP, Zone-VII, in Mumbai Police.
Belur (48), who originally belonged to Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been absent since 2001 after she was shifted to Uttarakhand when the hill state was carved out in 2000.
Belur is currently believed to be based in the UK while Fernandes had in her reply said she was pursuing PhD in the US.

Belur's name figured in an alleged fake encounter case which took place in Ghaziabad in 1996 in which four persons were killed.
One bullet recovered from one of the bodies was found to be fired from the official revolver of Belur, who was then serving as Circle Officer of Modi Nagar.

However, it is not yet clear whether the bullet was fired by her or if her weapon was used by someone else.
Despite repeated summons by the court, she did not turn up for appearance as she had moved to the UK.
Last Monday, a CBI court in Ghaziabad pronounced four other policemen guilty in the case.