Ranchi/Patna: One could call it jail bharo, Lalu style. To ensure that his jail yatra in BJP-ruled Jharkhand neither impacted his lifestyle nor put him at any serious discomfort, RJD president and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had made arrangements for his helper and masseur-cum-cook to land in prison hours before his own grand arrival in Ranchi's Birsa Munda central jail on December 23, 2017, in connection with a fodder scam case.
Helper Lakshman Mahto and masseur-cum-cook Madan Yadav turned themselves in voluntarily on December 23, 2017, over an allegedly fudged theft and assault case registered against them by their Ranchi-based neighbour.
This is not the first time, the two have given company to the RJD chief in Ranchi jail. Sources claimed that in 2013 when Lalu Yadav, 69, was convicted in the first fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of '37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury, Mahto and Madan Yadav used the same trick to get into the jail and serve as his personal attendants in prison.
Sources said that during Lalu Yadav's current jail stint also the two have allegedly been personally attending to him inside the jail since December 23, the day the RJD chief was sent to prison on being convicted in the Deoghar treasury fodder scam case.
While the ruling JD(U) and the BJP have cried foul, sources said that the timing of the leak about Lalu Yadav’s “jail luxury” is meant to have an adverse impact on his bid to seek bail from the Jharkhand High Court in the next few days.
Lalu Yadav has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by the special CBI court in connection with the Deoghar treasury case involving the embezzlement of more than '89 lakh in government funds between 1991 and 1994.
The JD(U) and the BJP also demanded a high-level probe to find out the “real truth” behind Lalu Yadav's helpers reaching the jail just hours before he was convicted.
The RJD jumped to its leader's defence, insisting that the presence of Mahto and Madan Yadav in jail was “conicidental”.
The superintendent of Birsa Munda Central Jail could not be reached for comments. Other government officials were also tight-lipped.
JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar, in a statement issued in Patna, said, “Lalu Yadav is a person with feudal mindset who can make his party workers go to any extent to serve his personal interest.”
