Mr Bhatnagar, who was associated with the Dabhol power project since 1992 as the Dabhol Power Company managing director alongwith the Enron CEO Rebacca Mark, had put in his papers last week and his resignation has since been accepted. Mr Bhatnagar, who is currently in Houston, the headquarters of Enron International, was recently appointed as the CEO of Enron Broadband Service in Asia based at Singapore.

Mr Bhatnagar was closely associated with Ms Mark during the signing of memorandum of understanding with the Maharshtra government and later power purchase agreement with the MSEB. He was also involved in the revival of Dabhol project after it was repudiated by the previous Shiv Sena-BJP government.

DPC spokesman in a statement said, "We have received confirmation that Sanjay Bhatnagarr resigned from Enron to pursue other interests. We wish him well in his new endeavours. He had transfered over to another of Enron's businesses several months ago, so the trransition at Enron india has already been accomplished. We have a strong management team at Enron India and have every confidence in their continuing ability to manage the business effectively."

Mr Bhatnagar's resignation deserves special significance especially when he was mediating with the state government for an early solution over the ongoing controversy on Dabhol phase-II. Mr Bhatnagar is the third top official to quit Enron in the recent past. Ms Rebecca Mark, former CEO and Chairman of Enron International, had first quit the company which was followed by the resignation of Joseph Sutton, who had took over from Ms Mark.