Prakash Rawal, the state minister for industry, tourism, forest and environment of Sudurpaschim Province, resigned on Sunday.

A case has been filed against Rawal at the Kanchanpur District Court on fraud and forgery charges.

“I have resigned to facilitate a fair investigation into the allegations levelled against me,” said Rawal. He, however, refused any wrongdoing. “Conspiracies are being hatched against me. I purchased the shares of Janajyoti Multiple Campus in Kanchanpur 10 years ago. The problem arose as the board of directors failed to work responsibly,” he added.

The Office of Chief Minister said Rawal’s resignation was approved.

Tara Dutta Joshi, another shareholder of the campus, had filed the case at the court a year ago. Rawal has been charged with receiving dividend by evaluating unusually high profit of the campus, for not paying the paid-up capital and for attempting to convert the status of the campus from private limited to public limited by producing forged documents.

The Department of Money Laundering Investigation is also conducting an investigation into properties belonging to Rawal.

Rawal is a Nepal Communist Party provincial assembly member. He was elected from the Kanchanpur Constituency-3 (A) from the then CPN-UML.