Controversial assistant commissioner of police Vasant Dhoble has been transferred for the second time in four months, this time to the Mumbai police control room, after a 45-year-old fruit vendor died during an eviction drive on Friday evening. A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) enquiry has also been ordered against Dhoble, who was moved from the Social Services Branch to the Vakola Division in September, after widespread protests against his crackdown on pubs and lounges.

Dhoble was transferred to a non-executive post to ensure an impartial probe into the charge that his high-handedness caused the death of a hawker, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Saturday.

Though an autopsy has confirmed that the hawker died because of a brain haemorrhage, the probe was necessary in view of the controversy and complaints, Chavan added.

While former police commissioners such as Julio Ribeiro and MN Singh feel the action against Dhoble was politically motivated, given the fact that the hawker, Madan Jaiswal, reportedly died of natural causes, current Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh said: “This has not been the only instance where we have received a complaint against Dhoble. There have been other cases too, for which an enquiry has been underway against him for the past four or five days. This incident triggered his transfer.”