Lalu Prasad Yadav shifted to RIMS Director's bungalow in Ranchi amid COVID-19 fears

Jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, currently undergoing treatment for multiple ailments at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, Jharkhand was on Wednesday moved to the hospital director's bungalow in view of his medical safety amid the spike in COVID-19 cases.

RIMS administration had written to the Birsa Munda Jail authority seeking shifting of Lalu Yadav since the ward where he was admitted had been converted into a COVID-19 ward.

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The former Bihar CM who is convicted in four cases of multi-crore fodder scam, was sentenced up to 14 years of imprisonment and was serving a term in jail. The 72-year-old RJD supremo, after being convicted by a special CBI court in 2017, was sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi. He was later shifted to the RIMS as his health condition allegedly deteriorated.

Since then, Lalu Prasad Yadav has spent a large part of his sentence undergoing treatment at the RIMS, and has also been admitted for reasonable lengths of time in New Delhi and Mumbai. Last week, he tested negative for COVID-19, after three of his attendants were diagnosed with the disease.

The Rs 900-crore fodder scam had taken place in the animal husbandry department of united Bihar in the 90s when Lalu was the chief minister. He has been convicted in fodder scam cases pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from government treasuries.

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Coronavirus in Jharkhand

Seven more people succumbed to COVID-19 in Jharkhand on Wednesday, raising the death toll to 136, a state government bulletin said. Three deaths were reported from Ranchi district, and one each from East Singhbhum, Giridih, Khunti, and West Singhbhum districts, it said.

A total of 978 people tested positive in the past 24 hours, taking the state's coronavirus tally to 14,919, the bulletin said. Jharkhand now has 9,086 active cases, while 5,826 people have recovered from the disease. Till date, 3,64,887 swab tests have been conducted in the state, it added. The mortality rate of the state is 0.90 per cent, while the recovery rate is 38.71 per cent, the bulletin said.

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(With agency inputs)

(Image credits: PTI)