Ranchi: Incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad’s health condition has deteriorated. He has been shifted to AIIMS, New Delhi for better treatment, officials said here Tuesday. A medical board of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here referred Lalu Prasad to AIIMS New Delhi, they said.
“RJD chief Lalu Prasad has been taken to Delhi in an air ambulance,” Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport director Vinod Sharma informed.
Dr Vidyapati, who heads a seven-member team of doctors formed by RIMS to treat Lalu, earlier said, “The medical board has recommended that Lalu be referred to AIIMS New Delhi as his condition has deteriorated.”
Lalu was sentenced February 21 by a special CBI court to five years imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 60 lakh. This came after Lalu being convicted in the embezzlement of Rs 139 crore from Doranda treasury in the fodder scam. The court had convicted Lalu February 15 and pronounced the quantum of the sentence after virtually hearing the arguments.
“Lalu’s creatinine level has increased to 4.6, which was earlier at 3.5. Blood sugar and blood pressure have been fluctuating. The sugar level is hovering between 150 and 200 mg/dl,” Dr Vidyapati said. The ebullient politician suffers from multiple ailments, including renal problems. “His kidney is functioning at 15-20 per cent capacity,” Dr Vidyapati informed.
After his conviction in the Rs 139.35 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case, the fifth and final one against him in the fodder scam, the ailing 73-year-old was lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail and then shifted to state-run RIMS on health grounds. In jail since December 2017, Lalu served most of his sentence period at the RIMS.
