Calcutta: Peeyush Pandey, the commissioner of Chandernagore police, was transferred this evening in the wake of the murder of the Bhadreswar Municipality chairman.

Pandey will be replaced by Ajoy Kumar, inspector-general, railways.

The state home department officially maintained that the transfer was routine but insiders said Pandey had failed to deliver.

On Wednesday, Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamul MP and chief minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew, had declared in Bhadreswar that the killers of municipal chairman Manoj Upadhyay would be arrested within 48 hours.

Apart from a man named Munna Rai, no one has yet been arrested. Rai was rounded up on Wednesday.

Sources said the chief minister decided to transfer Pandey after the police failed to make any further arrest by Friday.

Anger against the police had been building up in Bhadreswar over the past few days and a section of Trinamul leaders in Hooghly had started expressing their resentment in public about the alleged police inaction.

Kumar is likely to take charge on Saturday. Pandey will replace him as inspector-general, railways.

Murder probe

The Chandernagore commissionerate has set up four teams tasked with tracking down the killers of Upadhyay. "Some of the best officers have been included in the teams," a source said.

Sleuths have learnt that a few local criminals who were recently released on bail were roaming around Bhadreswar looking for ways to earn money to meet their court expenses. Some of them had got in touch with a few contractors in the area.

The police suspect some contractors were behind Upadhyay's murder.