Lalu on backfoot as records bare Pappu link

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has gone on the defensive. This is after records of the cellphone used by Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav, while lodged in Beur Jail in Patna, showed that the MP had been in touch with not just Prasad but many other leaders and officials in the state, including the state's jail minister.

In a bid to deflect criticism, the RJD chief argued that there was no way one could identify the place from where a call was being made.

"Is there any machine which can identify the place from where one is making a call to someone?" Prasad asked. He was addressing a function after the inauguration of the 400 Kv double circuit of Khalgoan-Biharsharif transmission line.

"Likewise, one can even call up a judge," Prasad said and criticised the media for highlighting negative things at the cost of positive ones.

Pappu Yadav has been in jail under charges ranging from murder to simple assault. During a raid on Wednesday, ordered by the Patna High Court, it was revealed that he had been using a cellphone and was in constant touch with big leaders in the state.

Details of the calls made from his mobile phone revealed that he had spoken to Jail Minister Raghvendra Pratap Singh and other ministers and officials. A total 670 calls were made in November "" about 22 calls a day "" from the phone.