Tamil Nadu govt suspends woman IPS officer who worked for UN mission in Sudan

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu home department has placed IPS officer M Sathyapriya under suspension for flouting the state government’s order by going to Sudan to work for UN mission on Central Government deputation.
Tamil Nadu home secretary Apurva Varma issued the suspension order on Wednesday.
A senior police officer in the DGP’s office has confirmed the suspension of the senior police officer.
When Sathyapriya came back from Sudan two weeks ago, she was placed under the vacancy reserve. And she was served with the suspension order on Wednesday.
Sathyapriya, a 1997-batch directly recruited deputy superintendent of police, was conferred IPS status in 2012. Her name was included on the list of direct-recruit IPS officers of the 2009 batch.
The United Nations Peace Keeping Civilian Police invites young police officers from all over the world to work for its missions in various countries. In 2012, after such an appeal for volunteers for the UN mission in Sudan, the Tamil Nadu police recommended Sathyapriya's name to the External Affairs Ministry. Later, after an examination in New Delhi, Sathyapriya and three other IPS officers from other states were selected to be part of the mission in Sudan.
The list was then sent to the state governments concerned to relieve the officers. On its part, the Tamil Nadu police sent its letter of clearance for Sathyapriya, then deputy commissioner of police (law and order), Trichy, through the state home department. Sathyapriya, relieved from her duties, soon flew to New Delhi to complete the visa formalities.
However, when she was about to leave for Sudan, the state government sent an urgent letter to the Centre asking it to cancel Sathyapriya's trip. It asked her to report back home. However, Sathyapriya "ignored the messages" and flew to Sudan.
For the mission in Sudan, the UN grants each police officer $100-120 a day apart from the money she/he gets from the parent unit.
Sathyapriya is the second IPS officer suspended by the state government in less than a month. Earlier, superintendent of police, Railways, G Sampath Kumar was placed under suspension for collecting money from one of the bookies involved in the IPL spot fixing scandal.