NEW DELHI: An Indian cabinet minister resigned on Tuesday after a state court charged him with corruption, in a further embarrassment for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scandal-tainted government.

“I have given my (resignation) papers to the prime minister,” Virbhadra Singh, the minister for micro, small and medium industries, told reporters. The move came a day after a court in Himachal Pradesh charged Singh and his wife with conspiracy and corruption in a 23-year-old case related to one of his five terms as chief minister of the northern state.

The couple have denied all the charges and the ruling Congress party stressed that Singh's decision to quit was not an admission of wrongdoing.—AFP