Former MP Shivanand Tiwari on Sunday came out in support of Lalu Prasad over the purported telephone conversation between the RJD chief and Siwan don Mohammed Shahabuddin aired as an exposé on the newly launched Republic news channel on Saturday.

"There is nothing wrong in getting phone calls from jail. It is not a new and unusual thing and is very common in Bihar," Tiwari, who hung up his political boots three years ago, said after coming out of 10 Circular Road, Lalu's residence in Patna, on Sunday.

"Those who do not accept that prisoners speak on the phone from jail, they are the biggest liars. Shahabuddin is just giving information to Lalu ji. What's wrong in that? Getting a call from jail may be big for others but in Bihar it is a very common practice," he added.

Even senior officials get calls from inside jails, he claimed.

While only trusted aides of Lalu were allowed inside his house on Saturday, a number of visitors were spotted at 10 Circular Road on Sunday.

Tiwari, former Rajya Sabha MP whose son Rahul Tiwari is the RJD Shahpur MLA, was one of the visitors and was with Lalu for more than two hours.

The old warhorse, who has worked with both Lalu and Nitish, said it was a matter of investigation how the audio tape became public.

He also alleged that the news channel airing it was working with an agenda to finish regional parties across the country, and that was the motive of the so-called sting operation.

"It is an old tape and police officers have already investigated the matter and disposed of the case. There is nothing new in the tape as shown by some news channel," Tiwari said.

RJD MLC Subodh Rai said the person said to be Lalu in the audio tape was not the RJD chief, and claimed the entire episode had been designed to malign a leader who is the messiah of the poor and the downtrodden.

"Has anyone probed the tape to check whether it (the voice) belongs to the RJD chief or not? These are just stunts to get TRP (television rating point)," Rai said outside Lalu's residence.

No one in the RJD first family came out of the house on Sunday even as visitors, including Jharkhand minister Saryu Rai and Lalu's advocate Chittaranjan Sinha, went in and out.