Chairman of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Ashok Chawla has resigned from his post, hours after the CBI said federal government has granted it sanction to prosecute him in the Aircel-Maxis case, officials said.
The NSE official statement said, "Ashok Chawla has resigned as Public Interest Director/Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NSE with immediate effect in light of recent legal developments."
The Mumbai-based NSE is the leading stock exchange of India.
Chawla was named in the Aircel-Maxis bribery case being probed the country's premier investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), reports Xinhua.
The NSE Chairman was along with other bureaucrats and India's former finance minister P Chidambaram, according to the report.
The CBI had filed its charge-sheet in July last year but had been waiting for the government's approval to start prosecution against the bureaucrats.
Chawla, a former finance secretary, took over as chairman of the exchange in 2016. He had previously served as civil aviation secretary and chairperson of the Competition Commission of India.
Last year he stepped down from the post of chairman Yes Bank citing personal reasons.
The CBI had filed the charge-sheet against Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram and 16 others including some former and serving bureaucrats.