Lalu Prasad's family drama touches a new low

The marital dispute between Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav and Aishwarya Roy touched a new low on Friday with her father, RJD MLA Chandrika Roy refusing to allow unloading of vehicles laden with her personal belongings for fear that incriminating objects might have been concealed in it to frame his family.

Roy also lodged a complaint with the Shastri Nagar police station in the city insisting that the goods sent to his home last night cannot be unloaded without the presence of any member of Prasad's family and with no magistrate in attendance to supervise the process.

Aishwarya Roy had been allegedly driven out of her marital home, a few hundred meters away from her parents' house, by her mother-in-law, former chief minister Rabri Devi last week.

The allegations leveled by Chandrika Roy against Rabri Devi do not amount to any cognizable offence. Hence we are conducting a preliminary inquiry. If at a later stage a need arises, we may register an FIR under relevant sections, Shastri Nagar SHO Vimalendu Kumar told PTI.

The drama began late Thursday night when two pick-up vans carrying Aishwaryas personal items, which were loaded at Rabri Devis 10, Circular Road bungalow, reached Roy's residence where his daughter has been staying for the past one week.

The MLA, whose late father Daroga Prasad Rai was a chief minister of Bihar in the 1970s, got furious when his security personnel informed him about it.

Standing guard outside his residence in the biting cold, Roy told reporters who had gathered at the spot We do not know what items they have sent. We had only sought our daughters mobile phone, jewelry and some cash that she was in possession of. I think they have sent this heap of trash keeping those items in their custody.

We cannot allow the unloading of these items in the absence of a magistrate. Going by their (Prasads family) conduct, they might conceal bottles of liquor or some other illegal item to get us framed. And why is no member of their family present, which is a legal requirement, Roy asked?

Prasads eldest daughter Misa Bharti, who has been accused alongside Rabri Devi of domestic violence by Aishwarya Roy in an FIR she had lodged on Monday last, told news channels I am right now in Delhi and appalled at the lowly conduct of Chandrika Roy.

"His (Roy's) charge that we might have concealed illegal items, keeping cash jewelry etc. with ourselves is disgusting. Why does he not allow unloading? He can get videography done.

Bharti said We are in possession of a letter written by Aishwaryas mother to women's helpline demanding her belongings. So we decided to return even all those items which were received as gifts during the wedding. Hence such a large volume. But Chandrika Roy wants to gain publicity out of this.

Aishwarya and Tej Pratap had tied the knot in May last year at a glittering ceremony which was attended by Lalu Prasad, who had come from Ranchi on parole since he is serving sentences in the fodder scam cases.

Tej Pratap, mercurial with an earthy demeanor in contrast to his soft-spoken and urbane wife, filed a divorce petition six months later.

While Tej Pratap, MLA and former minister, stays in a separate house allotted by the Bihar government, Aishwarya had chosen to stay at Rabri Devi's house in an attempt to save her failed marriage until the bridges were burnt last week.

The drivers of the vans were heard muttering under their breath, We were hired for a few hours and we have ended up spending the night hungry, awake and shivering in the cold. Poor people like us are being made to suffer on account of issues the rich families are having with each other.