Chandigarh, Sep 16: Punjab's Scheduled Castes/Backward Classes Welfare Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike resigned from his post Sunday following recent allegations of embezzlement of grants from his discretionary funds as minister.
Ranike, who also holds charge of animal husbandry, fisheries, and dairy development portfolios, submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here. Badal forwarded the resignation to Governor Shivraj Patil for acceptance.
A spokesman of the chief minister's office said that Ranike "personally met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in view of recent media reports regarding the case registered against his former personal assistant for alleged involvement in the misappropriation of public funds disbursement and voluntarily submitted his resignation on moral grounds this morning".
Ranike's resignation follows the move by the chief minister to hand over the probe into the corruption scam of discretionary funds to the state vigilance bureau.
Ranike's aide, Sarbhdyal Singh, has been accused of opening a number of bank accounts in 2011 in the name of dummy village sarpanches (headmen). He encashed an amount of Rs.1.15 crore through these accounts later.
The aide is on the run ever since the scam was reported by media.
