Rajendra Kumar was appointed yesterday as the chief of the three-member SIT. The probe panel was earlier headed by Sanjeev Shami who had replaced his predecessor D Sriniwas Verma, just a day after it was set up on September 23.

The shuffle follows an outburst from Purushottam Sharma, one of the seniormost police officers, against state police chief VK Singh last week.

It all started after Mr Singh got a "safe house" in Ghaziabad near Delhi - rented by Mr Sharma as head of the Special Task Force (STF) and Cyber Cell - vacated amid reports that it was linked to the extortion racket. Mr Sharma protested, demanding that the SIT investigation be moved out of the state police chief's control.

"In my opinion, the SIT has been plagued by controversy right from the time it was constituted. At first, it was headed by an IG-CID, then an ADG-rank officer was made its head and, subsequently, its members were also changed. Subsequently, a flat housing the guest house of the cyber cell was linked to the sex scandal," Mr Sharma said. "In the wake of such controversies, it's in the interests of justice that supervision of the SIT be handed to a DG-rank official who doesn't report to state police headquarters."

The Madhya Pradesh police chief has, however, refused to comment on the issue.

The "honey-trap" scandal targeted mainly politicians and bureaucrats and involved five women who used sex workers and young college girls, the police say. The politicians caught on camera were allegedly from both the BJP and Congress.

"More than 10 senior officers are being investigated for quid pro quo benefits to the accused," Sanjeev Shami, the former SIT chief, had said.

Shweta Jain, 39, her 48-year-old namesake, Barkha Soni, 35, Arti Dayal, 34, and an 18-year-old college student were arrested nearly two weeks ago. Arti Dayal's driver was also arrested. Barkha Soni is the wife of former Congress IT cell official Amit Soni. The five accused have been sent to jail till October 14.

One of the recent targets of the gang - which allegedly made over 1,000 video clips to extort money from the rich and powerful - was a top IAS officer who was asked to pay Rs 2 crore for a damning video.