Visitors being barred to meet Lalu Prasad at PM's instructions

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav Monday alleged that visitors were barred from meeting his father, party supremo Lalu Prasad in Ranchi jail at the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance of opposition parties) leaders in Bihar have criticised the "ill-treatment" allegedly meted out to Prasad in jail and said that they would take it to the "people's court" for justice.

Yadav said that visitors, including the family members, were barred from meeting Lalu Prasad (in Ranchi jail) on Saturday last week at the instructions of the prime minister based on the feedback given by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi.

"The PM was there in Araria when the notice barring people from meeting Lalu Prasad was issued on last Saturday", he said.

"I have not been able to meet my father in the past one and half months though I had gone to Ranchi to meet him. He is not being treated properly as tests which were necessary to be conducted has been delayed. This is a political conspiracy against him (Lalu Prasad). Completely inhuman behaviour is being meted out to him," Yadav, the leader of opposition in the Assembly, told reporters here during a joint press conference with the Mahagathbandhan leaders.

Tejashwi had gone to Ranchi to meet his father on April 6 and had alleged he was not allowed to meet Prasad in jail by the "autocratic" BJP government in the neighbouring state.

"A conspiracy was being hatched against Lalu ji. He is in a hospital undergoing treatment amid security, but his room is being raided every day," he claimed.

The opposition alliance, he said, would take the matter of Prasad not being allowed to meet his family and friends to the people's court as it is the "biggest court".

Prasad, who is in Ranchi jail following his conviction in several fodder scam cases, is currently lodged in RIMS hospital in the Jharkhand capital due to his multiple ailments.

Prasad's wife and senior RJD leader Rabri Devi had accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to poison him in hospital.

"If the Centre as well as the state governments of Bihar and Jharkhand want to kill him, if they want to kill the entire family of Lalu Prasad, they can do so but their dictatorship will not be accepted," Rabri had said in a minute long video clip posted on her Twitter handle on Saturday.

RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, who was present at the meeting said, "Prasad is being treated even worse than an Indian prisoner kept in Pakistan jail. It is being done on the instructions of those in power ... People are watching everything and they (those in power) will have to face the consequences of people's anger."