File photograph of Ashish Kumar
Amid a raging controversy over IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal's suspension, another bureaucrat who went after the mining mafia has been shunted out in similar circumstances by Tamil Nadu's AIADMK government.
Ashish Kumar, the collector of the Tuticorin district over 500 km from Chennai, was removed on Tuesday after he ordered raids at a sand mining unit whose owner is allegedly close to the ruling AIADMK of Jayalalithaa.
After two years in Tuticorin, Mr Kumar has now been posted as Deputy Secretary, Social Welfare Department.
State government sources say the mining group on Mr Kumar's crosshairs had illegally mined over 2, 30,000 metric tonnes of minerals from a beach.
After the raids, the state Mines Department had initiated a criminal case against the company for theft and environmental damage and was also about to impose a fine.
But before any move could be made, the officer who initiated the crackdown was shunted out. The Mines Department now says: "We are working on it."
Local fishermen had earlier complained to the district administration that violations by the private mining group had eroded the sea shore.
They had welcomed the collector's action, but are disappointed by his transfer - a story similar to that of Durga Shakti Nagpal, who had taken on the illegal sand mining mafia in Uttar Pradesh.
Ms Nagpal was suspended after she ordered people at a village in Greater Noida to pull down the wall of a mosque being built illegally on government land. The Uttar Pradesh government has accused the 28-year-old officer of risking communal riots with this action.
Senior officers in the Tamil Nadu government have refused to comment on Ashish Kumar's transfer.
The IAS officers' body says over 200 officers have been suspended across India over the past 20 years, in most cases, for not toeing the line of the party in power.