Chennai, May 14 (PTI): Tamil Nadu social welfare minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna today resigned following allegations that she tried to influence a vigilance official to save a relative facing a corruption case.

Poongothai submitted her resignation to chief minister M. Karunanidhi, who said he was “ashamed” that a minister was involved in such a controversy.

Poongothai’s decision followed the release of a recording of her telephone conversation with vigilance official S.K. Upadhyaya where she asked him to “go easy” on the corruption case involving her first cousin Jawahar, a suspended electricity board employee. The recorded conversation had been released to the media by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy two days ago.

“In this incident, there has been an effort to save a person charged with bribery allegations since he was her relative. I feel ashamed… that a minister has been involved in the issue,” Karunanidhi told the Assembly today.

Quoting Poongothai’s resignation letter, Karunanidhi said she had requested Upadhyaya to transfer the case to the board for “ordinary disciplinary proceedings”. The chief minister said he had not yet decided whether to accept the resignation. He also said the CID would probe how phones of ministers and officials were being tapped.