Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Ajay Bishnoi on Monday resigned from the Cabinet in the wake of Income Tax raids at his brother's residence and at some offices of state Health Department in connection with the multi-crore medicine scam.

"Yes, I have resigned from the Cabinet. I have submitted my resignation to the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan," Bishnoi told PTI over phone.

The party sources said that the BJP high command has taken the issue of raids in the election year very seriously and has asked Bishnoi to tender his resignation with immediate effect.

In an operation involving over 400 personnel, the Income Tax Department conducted simultaneous raids at over 50 places in the state including at the residence of then Health Commissioner and Home Secretary Rajesh Rajora, an alumni of prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and an IAS officer of 1990 batch.

It was for the first time in the history of Madhya Pradesh that an official residence of a serving IAS officer was raided by the Income Tax Department following which Rajora also resigned from the service on moral grounds.

Since the raids were conducted reportedly unearthing large amount of properties disproportionate to their known sources of income, the main opposition Congress was pressing for the resignation of Bishnoi.

Even today the Leader of Opposition, Jamuna Devi and MPCC president Suresh Pachouri in a joint press conference reiterated their charges of high-level corruption to the tune of Rs 500 crore in the Health Department and demanded a CBI probe.