Bihar’s Transport Minister Ramanand Singh, who was inducted during the mid April cabinet reshuffle, resigned on Saturday after it came to light that he had been chargesheeted in a corruption case.

Singh was chargesheeted by the state Vigilance Department in 1991 in a case involving purchase of inferior quality pipes while he served as fuel technologist of Kanti Thermal Power Plant at Muzaffarpur. Later he opted for retirement to enter politics.

The JD (U) MLA was apparently asked to put in his papers by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after reports of his being chargesheeted appeared in the local media. Thereafter, Singh went to the official residence of the CM and handed over his resignation in the morning. “The resignation has been accepted by the Governor,” an official at the CM's residence said.

Singh, meanwhile, alleged that the case against him was stage-managed and politically motivated. “A powerful minister in the erstwhile Lalu Yadav Government had prevailed upon the Vigilance to falsely implicate me. My name has been cleared but since a final verdict is awaited I continue to be tainted,” he said.

The Vigilance had raided Singh's residence in 1990 and recovered jewellery worth thousands of rupees and filed a chargesheet against him in December 1991. Last month, the special vigilance court had issued summon asking Singh to appear before the court. His counsel, however, pleaded his client's pre-occupation and the case was adjourned.

Singh is the second minister from the Nitish Kumar cabinet to have resign over corruption charges. In November 2005, cabinet Minister Jeetan Ram Manjhi had resigned after surfacing of reports of him being chargesheeted in the B Ed scam. Manjhi was reinducted last month after his name was cleared in the case.

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