The leading elected politician in Indian Kashmir resigned today over allegations that he was involved in a sex trafficking and underage prostitution racket.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the top official in the disputed territory, was accused of featuring on a list of influential men who allegedly benefitted from a sex ring used by the Indian political elite.

Mr Abdullah denied claims by the opposition dating back to a 2006 sex scandal, but told the state legislature, “I want to resign till I am cleared of this false allegation. I cannot work till I am proved innocent. It is a baseless allegation but I won’t be at peace with myself until I am proven innocent.”

Colleagues in the ruling National Conference party begged him to reverse his decision.

Devinder Rana, an aide to the minister, said he submitted his resignation to N.N. Vohra, the state governor. The governor’s office issued a statement later saying that Mr Abdullah was asked to stay on as chief minister while an investigation was held. It was not clear this afternoon whether the resignation would be accepted.

The scandal first surfaced in 2006 after gossip and pornographic videos began to circulate on mobile phones messages. Police investigated the content and discovered that women and underage girls were being trafficked and supplied to politicians, bureaucrats and security officials.

The revelations sparked weeks of violent protests across the Himalayan region and, three years later, the case is still being investigated by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation.

Kashmir’s opposition People’s Democratic Party leader Muzaffar Baig alleged today that Mr Abdullah’s name appeared in a document presented in 2006 by CBI to the court that has been trying the case.

The opposition claimed they had accessed the list, but did not describe how they had obtained it. Mr Baig said: “He has lost the moral authority to rule the state, he must resign.”

India’s state-owned television station Doordarshan reported that Mr Abdullah had never figured in the CBI’s investigations, while the Press Trust of India news agency quoted an unnamed CBI official saying that his name had not surfaced among the accused.

Mr Abdullah, 39, came to power in state elections last year following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, is in the grip of an insurgency that has killed more than 47,000 people over the past two decades, according to official figures.

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