NEW DELHI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) Ashok Chawla has resigned from his post, hours after the country's premier investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said federal government has granted it sanction to prosecute him in the Aircel-Maxis case, officials said.

"Ashok Chawla has resigned as Public Interest Director/Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) with immediate effect in light of recent legal developments," a statement issued by NSE said on Friday.

The Mumbai-based NSE is the leading stock exchange of India.

Chawla was named, along with other bureaucrats and India's former finance minister P Chidambaram, in the Aircel-Maxis bribery case being probed CBI.

The CBI had filed its charge-sheet in July last year but had been waiting for the government's approval to start prosecution against the bureaucrats.

Chawla, a former finance secretary, took over as chairman of the exchange in 2016. He had previously served as civil aviation secretary and chairperson of the Competition Commission of India.

Last year he stepped down from the post of chairman Yes Bank citing personal reasons.

The CBI had filed the charge-sheet against Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram and 16 others including some former and serving bureaucrats.