Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad will be tested for the coronavirus for the second time this week after three of his attendants at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) tested positive, doctors said on Monday.
Lalu, who is serving time after his conviction in fodder scam cases, has been admitted to the paying ward of the state-run hospital where he is being treated for multiple ailments. He tested negative for Covid-19 on Sunday. However, as per the standard operating procedure, he will be tested again on the basis of contact tracing, said Covid-19 task force in-charge Dr Prabhat Kumar.
But Dr Umesh Prasad, who is treating Lalu at RIMS, said that such frequent tests were not needed as Lalu had already tested negative once. “As far as I know, his swab samples were not collected on Monday. They might be collected later,” he said.
Two of Lalu's three Covid-infected attendants have been put in home quarantine, while one is undergoing treatment at RIMS, doctors said. Earlier this month, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) deployed for Lalu's security had tested positive for Covid-19.
Arrangements made for the former Bihar chief minister at RIMS has kicked up a political storm in Jharkhand with the BJP accusing the government of providing additional facilities to Lalu.
BJP legislative party leader Babulal Marandi had recently addressed a letter to chief minister Hemant Soren highlighting that 18 rooms in the paying ward of the hospital were booked for Lalu at a time when Covid patients were not even getting beds for treatment. Marandi had asked Hemant to intervene in the matter.
A CBI court in 2018 convicted Lalu in a fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89 lakh from the Deoghar treasury from year 1991 to 1994. A month later, he was convicted in another fodder scam case and sentenced to five years of imprisonment.
He was admitted in the cardiology wing of RIMS in the same year after he complained of discomfort while serving imprisonment in the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi. Since then, he has been undergoing treatment at the hospital. In 2018, he was referred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi from where he was later released and sent back to Ranchi.
