'Stung' UP minister offers to step down

UP Minister of State Mehboob Ali, one of the three caught accepting bribes on camera, has offered to resign.

Uttar Pradesh's Minister of State for Backward Classes Welfare Mehboob Ali, one of the three legislators caught accepting bribes in a television expose this week, offered on Saturday to resign.

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The minister, who had gone underground after being caught in a sting operation, said that on his visit to state capital Lucknow, he would tender his resignation to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Talking to reporters in Amaroha, about 400 km from Lucknow, he, however, refused to comment when he would put in his papers.

The sting operation, telecast on Wednesday on a private news channel, showed Ali not only demanding bribes for transfers and postings but also expressing his willingness to cart contraband drugs, including opium and heroin, in his official vehicle - for a price.

He was shown demanding Rs 2 million for transferring every consignment worth Rs 10 million.

The issue kept the atmosphere charged in the state Assembly that witnessed noisy protests.