Alka Mishra holds court in jail

In fact, she is quite at home, just like in her office of the BJP Mahila Morcha vice-president on Bidhan Sabha Marg. At the jail’s gates, the visitors are first screened and interviewed by two advocates. Then, their visiting cards are sent inside for her approval.

Inside, Alka sips cold water provided by the staff. A box of sweets and a bouquet of flowers are placed on the table. A jail employee enters the room to serve water and tea to the visitors. He lingers a little too long. ‘‘What are you waiting for?’’ she shouts, ordering him not to come unless called for.

Many of her party workers have come to call on her. Her conversation with them centres around the death of Malti Sharma, 45-year-old secretary of the city BJP women’s wing who was found murdered on the night of June 7.

‘‘Why should I murder her? She was junior to me. This is not poll time that I would have to fight against her. What can be the provocation’’ she asks. Her party workers nod in agreement.

As two mediapersons walk into the room, Alka becomes more vocal. ‘‘If the police are cooking up stories against me, the media is playing second fiddle. It is dancing to their tune,’’ she fumes. But she asks the two journalists to sit down and offers them sweets. As she is interviewed, a 45-year-old man introduces himself as her lawyer. He corrects her statements, as, he says, he wants to make them ‘‘legally perfect’’.

‘‘The police are clearly trying to save a very influential man by booking me in the case,’’ claims Alka. However, she refuses to divulge any names although she repeatedly refers to a DIG. It was reported earlier that Malti had met a DIG on the night of June 7.

Interestingly, when Alka was brought to the jail on the evening of June 12, she was lodged in the special barrack where Madhumani, accused in the Madhumita murder case, is lodged. Madhumani was reportedly chanting shlokas inside her cell. This is said to have irritated Alka, who ordered her to stop. This led to a heated argument between the two, forcing jailor R.P. Gupta to intervene. Next day, the two were put in separate cells.

‘‘On the first night, the two fought and we had to put them in separate jails,’’ confirms Gupta. But Alka dismisses the charge as gossip, while Madhumani refuses to comment.