RANCHI: Jharkhand High Court has sought a reply from the State Government over alleged violation of jail manual by RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav while his stay in RIMS Director’s Bungalow in Ranchi.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which was filed in the Jharkhand High Court seeking to shift RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav back to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, alleged that the former Bihar CM was violating the jail manual during his stay in RIMS Director’s Bungalow.
The RJD chief is said to be a chronic patient of hypertension, diabetes, heart, kidney, and several other ailments, and hence, was shifted to Director’s bungalow on August 5 in the wake of increasing COVID-19 cases in Jharkhand. He was sent back to paying ward RIMS on November 26, a day after an alleged audio clip of him offering a ministerial berth to BJP MLA Lalan Paswan became viral on social media.
“After hearing both the sides at length, the court asked the State Government to file a reply against the alleged violation of the jail manual by the RJD chief during his stay in RIMS Director’s Bungalow,” said the petitioner’s advocate Majoj Tandon.
The RJD chief, who was admitted to the paying ward of RIMS in Ranchi, was shifted to the official residence of the RIMS director, also known as Kelly Bungalow on the hospital campus. In the PIL filed by Manish Kumar, it was alleged that the RJD chief, sitting in the director’s bungalow, has been actively influencing the politics in Bihar which was about to go for Assembly polls, he added.
According to Tandon, Lalu Yadav, who is a convict in several fodder scam cases, was meeting hundreds of people every day while sitting in the director’s bungalow, causing a direct influence on the politics of Bihar, which is a clear violation of the jail manual.
“In the petition, we have demanded that Lalu Yadav must be shifted again to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi which has all the facilities available for his treatment,” said Tondon. The court will be hearing next on January 8, before which the State has to submit its reply, he added.
After being convicted by a Special CBI Court in Ranchi on December 23, 2017, in the second fodder scam case involving the illegal withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury, the 72-year-old RJD Chief was lodged in Birsa Munda Central jail in Ranchi but was shifted to RIMS looking at his deteriorating health conditions.