Bhubaneswar, Jan 19 (IANS): Odisha Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy Thursday submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik after the opposition accused him of protecting the culprits in a gangrape case.

"I submitted the resignation on moral grounds," Maharathy told IANS after putting in his papers.

A 19-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped Nov 28 last year by some people near her village Arjunagoda, about 10 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. The site of the crime comes under Pipili assembly constituency that Maharathy represents.

"The opposition parties are trying to malign the image of our government and the image of the chief minister. I resigned to protect their image," Maharathy said.

The woman is admitted in a hospital in Cuttack, 26 km from here, and is in coma. Her family alleges that the accused were the same people who had assaulted her in 2008 and against whom she had put up a determined fight in court in a molestation case.

The matter came to light recently when the victim was allegedly denied proper treatment at a hospital and some mediapersons reported the matter after meeting her family members.