Embarrassed following a report in MiD DAY on Wednesday, which was later followed by other newspapers, the Maharashtra government yesterday evening shifted a platoon of 30 State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) troopers guarding the Taj Mahal Hotel from the Gateway of India where they were living since two months.

"Around 7 pm, some police vans came and picked them up with all their belongings and luggage. They have been taken to an undisclosed location nearby," said a police official last evening.

The jawans were guarding the country's best-known hotel that was one of the main targets in last year's terror attack. The men lived, ate and slept there, read newspapers, washed and hung their clothes there right opposite the hotel.

Last week's unseasonal rains had forced the troopers to put up plastic sheets to shield themselves from the rainwater.