india

Updated: Dec 24, 2017 07:47 IST

Fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad was on Saturday put in the same upper division cell where he stayed after the 2013 conviction in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Jail, highly placed sources in the jail informed.

In the upper division cell, he will be entitled to avail one mosquito net, one newspaper to read every day, and a television set apart from the usual cell bed. Sources said that he can have access to home-cooked food in the jail and also prepare food for himself. The former railway minister had undergone a heart surgery in 2014 and has several restrictions in his diet.

The RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister will get VIP treatment in the prison. Other jail inmates will not be allowed to meet him during his stint here, jail officials said.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders, including state party president and former minister Annapurna Devi accompanied Lalu in separate vehicles up to the jail’s main gate in Hotwar.

Lalu, who was convicted earlier in the day by a CBI court for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.89 lakh from Deoghar treasury, straightaway went to his cell to take rest.

“He has been kept in an upper grade cell where he stayed in 2013. He straightaway went to his cell to take rest,” said jail superintendent Ashok Choudhary.

In 2013, Lalu had to spend 77 days in the same cell until he got bail from the Supreme Court.

“He prefers eating jail food when inside. We, however, try and provide home-cooked food to him,” said Annapurna Devi.

Major rule violations were reported the last time Lalu was lodged in the jail.