‘Hallowed’ gates?

Patna, Oct. 18: Bihar’s model jail has played host to the high and mighty of the state — apart from the usual suspects — and the list also includes those associated with the prison even before they are caught on the wrong side of the law.

The newest member of the “VIP inmate club” at Beur Central Jail is Hemchandra Jha, the district magistrate of Madhepura, who has been suspended for accepting bribe. He joined another IAS officer, former Patna district magistrate Gautam Goswami, in the jail on Saturday.

“We arrested Jha, who was carrying a bribe of Rs 1.92 lakh in cash, and four others in Patna as part of our campaign against corruption,” said additional director-general of police (vigilance) Neelmani. “The vigilance campaign against corruption will be intensified further.”

The jail has housed many IAS officers and politicians who have played a key role in its creation, upkeep and improvement.

Goswami carried out several raids on the prison as district magistrate and also set up a “yoga centre” inside for the “physical and mental well-being of the prisoners”.

Lodged in the same prison since July 2005 in connection with the flood relief scam, Goswami is now a beneficiary of the same yoga centre.

“I am also reading Rajyoga, Gyanyoga and Karmayoga. I have been an admirer of Vivekananda and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar since my student days,” Goswami told The Telegraph.

The person who got the prison built on the outskirts of the Bihar capital and inaugurated it in 1995, Lalu Prasad, landed at Beur jail for the first time in 1997 and followed it up with six more visits. Wonder what went through his mind when he walked past the plaque saying “inaugurated by chief minister Lalu Prasad”.

“The prison is now awaiting Lalu Prasad’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, who stood next to the then chief minister during the inauguration,” said a police official, adding, “he (Sadhu) faces a warrant in the flood relief scam and we are looking for him.”

Former home commissioner D.P. Maheshwari, who inspected the construction of the prison along with Lalu Prasad in the nineties, paid a visit to the jail in early 2000 in connection with a health scam.

Asked why the prison attracts its own “architects”, jail superintendent Dilip Kumar Singh said: “It’s a really difficult question to answer.”

Though only 11 years old, the jail has been home to several of Bihar’s movers and shakers. Besides Lalu Prasad, senior IAS officers Chintu Nayak, Beck Julius, Phulchand Singh and C.K. Basu, former chief minister Jagannath Mishra and many other hotshots have “graced” the prison.

The suspended Madhepura district magistrate, meanwhile, described his arrest as “politically motivated”.

But a vigilance official countered: “How can it be politically motivated? Jha is not a politician and we recovered Rs 1.92 lakh in cash before he was arrested and remanded in custody.”

Jha reportedly claimed that the money belonged to his businessman-son Nilesh. “But we have conclusive evidence to prove that Jha was carrying bribe money,” another vigilance official said.

Gyanu Singh, Janata Dal (United) MLA from Barh, observed: “It’s unusual. But the fact remains that high-profile IAS officers and senior leaders outnumber ganglords and dons as occupants of Beur jail.”