Former Meghalaya governor V Shanmuganathan, who resigned following allegations that he had molested a woman, had put in his papers on “health grounds”, a senior official told The Hindu. Since no criminal proceedings can be initiated against a governor or the president during their term in office as per the Constitution, Shanmuganathan was asked to resign, also because dismissing someone in his position is a “tedious process”, the official said.

The central government had advised Shanmuganathan to resign as the allegations against him “were of such serious nature that the system had to take cognisance”, a senior Home Ministry official told The Indian Express. President Pranab Mukherjee accepted the Meghalaya governor’s resignation on Friday.

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More than 80 staff of the Shillong Raj Bhavan had written to the president and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking Shanmuganathan’s removal, claiming that he had molested a job aspirant when she had met him for an interview. They had also alleged that the 68-year-old, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist from Tamil Nadu, had turned the office into a “young ladies club” and compromised the security of the Raj Bhavan.

The Civil Society Women Organisation and Thma u Rangli launched a signature campaign and protested outside the Shillong Raj Bhavan on Thursday, demanding his immediate dismissal.