NEW DELHI, Nov 17: An Indian government minister who was caught on video taking cash allegedly as a bribe resigned on Monday, dealing a blow to the country’s ruling Hindu nationalists two weeks before key state elections.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accepted the resignation of junior Environment Minister Dilip Singh Judeo a day after The Indian Express newspaper said it had a footage of him taking money from a businessman for a mining contract.

Television channels Sunday aired footage of Judeo taking a wad of cash from a man called Rahul, touching the currency to his forehead and saying: “Money isn’t God but swear on God, it’s no less than God.”

Later on Monday, Vajpayee ordered the CBI to probe the scandal involving Judeo, who belongs to Chattisgarh state ruled by India’s main opposition Congress party.—AFP