Missing for 498 days, Sobo cop given ‘forced retirement’
Shashikant Tukaram Dere, attached to the Gamdevi police station, had stopped coming to work since September 2015, police officers said.
A police head constable has been awarded ‘forced retirement’ after remaining absent from duty for 498 days without giving valid reasons and taking prior permission from his superiors for the same.
Shashikant Tukaram Dere, attached to the Gamdevi police station, had stopped coming to work since September 2015, police officers said. Dere, who is in his mid-50s and lives with his family in DB Marg police colony, had claimed he was sick for failing to report to duty, officers said.
A preliminary inquiry was ordered in 2018 and Dere was given opportunities multiple times to explain himself, officers said. The inquiry found that Dere remained absent from 18/9/2015 to 3/7/2017 (a total of 498 days). The head constable could not give a satisfactory reason for the same, a police officer said.
This year, a departmental inquiry was ordered but Dere did not turn up for the inquiry. He also failed to submit any documents corroborating his claim that he was sick.
“Usually, if a policeman takes such long leaves a medical board is set up with the help of the senior officers at police hospitals. The board then decides if such long leaves were needed for the treatment of the illness for which the policeman had taken leave. It is learnt that in Dere’s case, the panel’s findings were not in his favour,” a police officer said.
Following the inquiry, Dere was awarded punishment of ‘forced retirement’. However, senior officers had taken the condition of Dere’s family into consideration and the punishment will not affect his post-retirement benefits, an officer said.