Security beefed up outside Lalu jail amid protest

Patna: Security outside Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi was beefed after RJD workers staged a massive protest against the authorities after they were stopped from meeting their leader Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Barricading and an additional police force was deployed outside the prison to prevent party workers from getting too close to the prison gate.

“Lalu Yadav is being treated as if he is a big criminal. He is a mass leader and stopping people from meeting him may create further trouble,” president of Jharkhand state unit of the RJD Annapurna Devi said on Monday after she and other leaders were stopped from meeting Mr Yadav.

According to the jail manual, a convict serving imprisonment can be allowed to meet people only once in a week. Sources claim that in Mr Yadav’s case, jail authorities have been asked to allow only three persons in a week.

Sources also said that a separate register will be kept in the jail office to maintain the list of people requesting to meet RJD chief Lalu Yadav.

RJD workers have been camping outside the prison gate for the past two days despite being told that they will not be allowed to meet Mr Yadav. According to an eyewitness, a large group of supporters has travelled from various parts of Bihar and Jharkhand and is not ready to leave Ranchi without having a glimpse of Mr Yadav.

The RJD chief, after being convicted in the fodder scam case, has been kept in jail’s upper division cell along with seven other political prisoners.

A source from Ranchi informed this newspaper that the RJD chief has been provided with a separate room with all basic facilities, including a separate television set and a toilet.

The quantum of punishment for Mr Yadav and 15 other convicted in the fodder scam case will be pronounced on January 3.

RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and other senior party leaders are seeking legal advice in order to challenge the verdict in the high court.