NEW DELHI, July 24: Indian coal minister Shibu Soren, who has been on the run to avoid arrest for alleged involvement in the killing of 10 Muslims nearly 30 years ago, has resigned, his aide said on Saturday.

Mr Soren has sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Soren's personal secretary P.N. Pandey told private television channel Zee TV.

"He (Soren) was ready to resign when the (arrest) warrants were issued but at that time, people within the government told him not to," Pandey said.

Singh had demanded Soren's resignation on Friday night after days of uproar in parliament where the opposition stalled all proceedings till the minister was sacked.

Soren went into hiding this week after a court in his eastern home state of Jharkhand issued an arrest warrant for him for allegedly leading a mob that killed 10 Muslims in 1975.

The mob was agitating for the creation of a separate tribal state of Jharkhand, which was recently carved out after decades of unrest and campaign.

A police team that travelled to his New Delhi residence to arrest him found he was not at home and his house was locked. They pasted the warrant on his door but it was torn to pieces by his supporters.

Since his new left-leaning government came to power in May, Prime Minister Singh has been facing a barrage of opposition attacks on the issue of "tainted" ministers in his cabinet.

At least three ministers in the cabinet, including Railway Minister Laloo Yadav, face criminal chargesheets ranging from murder and rape to embezzlement.

The opposition has been demanding that Singh sack these ministers but the prime minister has defended them, saying a chargesheet doesn't mean conviction.

The opposition has since decided to boycott the ministers and its MPs walk out of parliament each time the ministers get up to speak. -AFP