The transport minister of India's eastern Bihar state and his personal security guard were fined 30 dollars each for travelling ticketless on a train, a report said Tuesday. Awadh Bihari Chaudhry, a member of federal railways minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's regional RJD party and a minister in Bihar's government, had to pay 1,412 rupees (30 dollars) to avoid arrest, the United News of India said.
Both he and his guard were caught in the air-conditioned section of an express train in the state on Monday, railways official N.K. Singh said.
The report did not say if the minister deliberately failed to buy tickets.