New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Minister Girish Chandra Yadav was transported to a hospital in the early hours of Monday after being bitten by a rat or a mole, according to a top official at the district hospital, news agency PTI reported.


Officials claimed that the Minister of State for Youth Welfare and Sports, who was on a tour of the Banda district and was sleeping in a circuit house, is OK and departed for Lucknow in the morning.


The minister awoke feeling uneasy at 3 a.m., fearing he had been bitten on the hand by an insect and was brought to the district hospital's trauma centre.


"An examination revealed that the bite on a finger of the right hand was possibly from a rat or a shrew (an insectivorous mammal that resembles a mouse)," the district hospital's Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) Dr SN Mishra was quoted by PTI in its report.


The 47-year-old minister told PTI over the phone that he had no idea which animal attacked him, but blood was gushing from the bite site.


The minister claimed he was sleeping when he felt a searing ache and awoke.


He stated that he had informed his workers as a result.


"After keeping me under observation for three hours at the Banda hospital, I was discharged after a thorough examination," he said.


The circuit house is located in a forest, which led the minister to believe he had been bitten by a venomous insect.


The incident, which occurred in the middle of the night, sent the district administration into a tizzy.


Authorities added that after receiving information, senior district officials, including the district magistrate and the chief medical officer, arrived at the circuit house and took the minister to the hospital.


Yadav was in the Banda district as a result of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's directive to ministers to tour areas assigned to them in order to get input on administration at the grassroots level.


During important travels, the chief minister recently issued orders that ministers and officials should avoid hotels and instead stay in government housing.


(With PTI Inputs)