Bowing to pressure after the intense publicity on the incident, Director General of Police O.P. Rathore appointed A.N. Upadhyay, Surguja range inspector general, to conduct the probe.

The Chhattisgarh Police, which initially denied beating up Dreze and his dozen odd colleagues Saturday at Balrampur, 382 km from here, later described it as "a case of mistaken identity".

Police admitted Monday that the "incident occurred as Dreze's style of holding meeting with the locals was similar to the pattern of Maoist rebels".

The Belgian-born Dreze is a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He is also an active member of the Right to Food Campaign, the National Campaign for the People's Right to Information, and the world-wide movement for peace and disarmament. He became an Indian citizen in 2002.

Balrampur police attacked a team of People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) led by Dreze while it was holding a meeting with locals. Dreze sustained minor injuries in his right hand in the incident, which took place near the Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand border dominated by Maoist guerrillas.

The issue has snowballed into a major controversy with human rights groups and the opposition Congress hauling up the state government.

Chief Minister Raman Singh had Sunday ordered police in Balrampur to "collect all details about the incident and take stern action against those responsible for assaulting the economist".

Dreze's meeting with locals was a part of the PAEG's Rozgar Yatra march to mobilise support for the central government's Employment Guarantee Act. The march is slated to cover seven states.