Atram, an Nationalist Congress Party member submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday, sources said.

Baramati tehsil is in Pune district which is also the constituency of party chief Sharad Pawar.

Atram resignation follows raid conducted at his houses in Gadchiroli and Pune districts by the forest officials. They seized half burnt hair of chinkara along with some animal bones from his house.

The villagers in the area had reported sighting of Atram’s car with red beacon along with two other vehicles leading to suspicion over his involvement in the hunting of the deer, an endangered species.

Forest officials had filed a case under the protection of wildlife act and arrested two persons in this connection.