Roti, dal and cabbage dinner for Lalu
RANCHI: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad was served chapatti, dal and a cabbage sabzi for dinner on his first night at the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi, where he is lodged after being convicted in the multicrore-rupee fodder scam on Saturday.
The 69-year-old leader’s elder son, Tejashwi Yadav, had asked jail authorities to serve him chapattis instead of rice as he suffers from heart ailments, prison sources said.
Prasad had undergone a heart surgery in 2014 and is under strict diet restriction since. The last time he was sent to jail in 2013, he had mutton curry and rice.
In Patna, wife Rabri Devi is worried about his health and medication. “Laluji takes medicines throughout the day. He needs somebody by his side to assist him. I don’t know who is taking care of him in jail. Many leaders have travelled with him to Ranchi. I hope they are being allowed to meet him,” she said.
According to the jail manual, visitors are not allowed to meet prisoners on Sundays.
“Many RJD leaders went to meet Laluji on Sunday but the jail authorities did not allow them to enter the premises,” Jharkhand unit RJD president Annapurna Devi said. Several party legislators, including son Tejashwi, are in Ranchi. Tejashwi went with his father to the jail on Saturday evening, sources said.
“No visitors were allowed to meet him on Sunday. Visitors can meet him later, but only during visiting hours,” jail superintendent Ashok Choudhary said.
Prasad shares the jail’s upper division cell with seven more politicians — former Congress legislator Savna Lakra, former state minister Raja Peter, former legislator KK Bhagat, Jharia legislator Sanjeev Singh, legislator Enos Ekka, former Bihar MP Jagdish Sharma and former legislator RK Rana.
Prasad was held guilty by a CBI court in a case of fraudulent withdrawal of ₹89 lakh from the Deoghar treasury between 1991 and 1994. Rana and Sharma were convicted too along with Prasad.
Lalu is also eligible for newspapers, magazines, books and food from outside the jail, sources said.