Ranchi police carried out a surprise inspection on Tuesday of the RIMS ward where RJD president Lalu Prasad is being treated under judicial custody to apparently review his security arrangements but his party dubbed the exercise as a BJP ploy to make him appear to be a serial offender.
The search operation, the second one in three days, was led by Ranchi (city) DSP Sujata Kumari Veenapani and included around two dozen policemen, besides officials of Birsa Munda Central Jail.
“Our chief objective was to beef up the security of Lalu Prasad who is a VIP and a high-profile prisoner. Besides, we also searched his room which is part of the routine drill. But we did not find anything objectionable. But there was nothing specific and special about today’s inspection that went on for half hour,” the SP said.
Lalu, who has been under judicial custody after his conviction in a number of fodder scam cases, was shifted to the RIMS paying ward in September last year and is being treated for multiple ailments. Around 50 policemen are deployed in two shifts for the VIP prisoner.
DSP Kumari said the police had directed the RIMS security in-charge not to allow any unauthorised person to stay or move around the Lalu’s room. “As per the jail manual, nobody will be allowed to meet him without prior permission. All authorised visitors or attendants will have to be frisked,” she said.
Later, police sources revealed that frequent inspections were being carried out because of the large number of visitors and supporters who tend to hang around the RIMS ward where Lalu has been lodged.
The BJP had in mid-March lodged a complaint with the election commission about Lalu’s twitter account which, it alleged, he was operating even though he was under judicial custody.
State RJD general secretary Kailash Yadav said such raids were a BJP ploy. “The BJP and the government are trying to create a perception that he (Lalu) secretly uses mobile phones to stay in touch with his family and party workers. This is an attempt to portray him as a habitual offender,” he alleged.
Lalu’s daughter Rohini Acharya, who closely monitors news reports about Lalu, has been critical about the way the BJP treated her father. When the police inspected Lalu’s ward at RIMS the last time on March 31, she alleged that the BJP-led state government was deliberately harassing Lalu who was of frail health.
“Koi hospital mein mere pitaji ko pareshan karey to bardast nahin kar sakti. Main un logon ko bata dena chahati hun ki main chup baithne walon me se nahin hun. Suno arey o kayaron, ladna hai to vaicharik ladai lado. Mere bimar pita ke hospital me chhapa maarke tumhein kaun si tripti milti hai? Tumhen garibon ke messiah se itna dar kiyu hai (I will not keep silent if anybody troubles my father. Fight with my father on ideological issues. My father is ill and he is under treatment. What satisfaction do you get out of raiding his room? Is it justified for police to torture a man who is hospitalised for treatment? Why are you scared of messiah of poor?” she posted on Facebook.
Rohini also alleged the election commission was being partisan as it was silent in the face of rampant misuse of the official machinery by “chowkidars”.
