Send me back to jail, ailing Lalu tells doctors

Patna: Doctors treating the incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad sentenced to a total of 27.5 years in jail in four fodder scam cases are flummoxed as he has declined to be shifted to higher health institutes for his proper treatment and instead wants to be sent back to jail itself, media reports said Monday.

He has also constantly refused to take insulin injections in the past two days despite his increased sugar level not coming down.

Prasad who had been lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail, Ranchi, since December 23 was shifted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi last week over multiple health complications.

A medical Board of the RIMS has now suggested shifting the RJD chief to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, or another advanced centre, for better treatment but Prasad is not interested in going there, as per reports.

Informed sources said instead of taking heavy doses of medicine, Prasad, who has complained about being “caged” in a hospital room for the past week, wants to be sent back to jail for daily morning walks to fight his increased sugar levels.

“While I was in jail I used to take regular walks as a result of which my sugar level remained under control but here I have been caged in a single room. I can’t even move now,” a hospital source quoted Prasad as saying.

As per media reports, Prasad refused to take insulin injections for the second day on Monday.

“It will be under control once I take walks in jail,” he reportedly told the doctors treating him.

Currently, he is under the care of Dr Umesh Prasad.

“We have already increased the medicine dose to control his sugar but it remains a matter of concern. Administering insulin is the lone alternative now,” a doctor told the media on Monday.

As per reports, Prasad is currently suffering from multiple health complications which include uncontrolled diabetes, high blood pressure, heart ailments, chronic kidney failure (stage-3), fatty lever, peri-anal infection, hyper uricemia and kidney stones. The 69-year-old Prasad, who remains influential in Indian politics, has so far been convicted in four out of total six fodder scam cases registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He suffered the biggest blow to his political career when a CBI court sentenced him to 14 years in jail in the fourth fodder scam on Saturday, besides also imposing a heavy penalty of Rs6 million (Dh340,019).