London, Aug 9 - Journalist and broadcaster Mihir Bose has quit his job as the sports editor of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in a move that has taken the national media by surprise.

Bose, possibly the highest ranked Indian-born journalist in Britain, resigned after two-and-a-half years in the job for what the BBC called 'personal reasons'.

The Daily Mail, reporting what it described as a 'shock announcement' Wednesday, said Bose, a leading print journalist who had been brought in to transform the BBC's sports coverage, was unhappy.

'He was BBC News's first ever sports editor and was mired in controversy as soon as he started in January 2007 - just as the BBC planned massive job cuts,' the paper said.

'The 62-year-old faced fierce criticism - from licence fee payers, who complained online about his reporting and presenting skills.'

The BBC's announcement of his appointment in October 2006 fuelled protests from the National Union of Journalists which queried the decision to bring in someone from outside the BBC at a time when the corporation was facing 120 job cuts.

The London Evening Standard quoted sources at the BBC as saying that he had felt 'betrayed' after his employers told him he would have to move to a newly-built Media City in Manchester in 2011.

A source told the paper: 'Mihir had grown deeply unhappy about the move and felt betrayed. He was given assurances when he joined that he would be able to stay in London.

'His wife runs a very successful consultancy and the vast majority of his contacts are based in London so he couldn't see the sense in the move.