India, July 3 -- Maharashtra transport minister Pratap Sarnaik, under an alias, booked a Rapido bike on Wednesday to test whether the service was still being offered despite it being illegal due to the lack of proper regulations for bike taxis. The biker, unaware of the identity of his customer, rode right into the midst of transport department officials who caught him red handed. However, Sarnaik directed officials not to register a case against the bike driver as he was merely an employee, and instead take action against the company.

On April 1, the state cabinet had issued a draft electric-bike taxi policy saying that only e-bikes which fulfilled the government's criteria could be used as bike taxis. The policy was to come into play o...