Mumbai Commissioner of Police Javed Ahmed has been appointed India’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Indians form the largest expatriate community in the Kingdom, PTI reported. The post has been vacant since April.

Since then, the relations between the two countries have been strained as a Saudi diplomat was accused of raping and confining two Nepali women in his home in Gurgaon. The diplomat left India in September. Saudi Arabia is India’s largest supplier of crude oil.

The move will also mean that a new police commissioner needs to be chosen once again. Javed was appointed to the post in September after the previous police chief Rakesh Maria was shunted out following irregularities in the Sheena Bora murder case.