Eighteen officials of the Mumbai police Crime Branch were transferred on Wednesday.

The top name in this list is Inspector Pradeep Sharma. In what is being considered a demotion, he has been transferred from the head office to Crime Branch's Unit 11 in Kandiwali.

Inspector Vinayk Sawde, who heads Unit 11 and played a key role in the arrest of those accused in this year's twin bomb blasts, has been transferred to the Andheri unit.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dhananjay Kamlakar said, "This is routine transfer, as it is part of the transfer drive we started recently."

The Crime Branch is under pressure following the arrest of former joint commissioner Shridhar Wagal in connection with the Telgi case.

It has tried to clean its image by transferring controversial officials and taking in new faces. First, Dhanajay Kamlakar was brought in place of deputy commissioner Pradeep Sawant, whose name had cropped up during investigations into the Telgi scandal.

It also transferred encounter specialist Sub-Inspector Daya Nayak, whose application relating to allegations made against him by Ketan Tirodkar that he had links with gangsters was rejected by the Bombay high court.