India governor, 86, resigns after 3-woman sex tape

By Omer Farooq, Associated Press Writer | December 26, 2009

HYDERABAD, India --The 86-year-old governor of a southern Indian state
resigned Saturday, a day after a television news channel broadcast a
tape allegedly showing him in bed with three women, an official said.

Gov. Narain Dutt Tiwari's office has denied the allegation, denouncing
the tape as fabricated.

Tiwari, a veteran governing Congress party leader in Andhra Pradesh
state, sent his resignation letter to the Indian president on Saturday,
citing health reasons, a state official said on condition of anonymity
as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The scandal hit as Andhra Pradesh is engulfed in social unrest. Outrage
over a delay in creating a new state there erupted into violent
demonstrations in several cities earlier this week.

Pressure mounted on Tiwari to quit after the tape allegedly showing him
in bed with three women was broadcast Friday, prompting the opposition
and women's right groups to hold street protests in Hyderabad, the state
capital, demanding his resignation.

A statement issued on Friday by Aryendra Sharma, an aide to the
governor, said "the news channel report is fabricated, false and
malicious to tarnish the image of the governor."

The television channel ABN Andhra Jyoti News, broadcast the tape, said
it was made in a sting operation. The three women were from his northern
home state of Uttrakhand, it claimed.

They were brought to Hyderabad by another woman who was allegedly
promised a mining lease by the governor in return for sexual favors, the
television channel claimed.

The woman said she decided to expose Tiwari through a sting operation
after he did not keep his promise, the channel said.

A court stopped the channel from broadcasting the tape again later
Friday after a petition filed by Sharma, the governor's aide, who said
the video was "likely to demean and denigrate his office."

Tiwari had earlier served as the top elected official of northern Uttar
Pradesh and Uttrakhand states and as a federal minister.