Within an hour of the court directive, the Bihar Military Police searched the high-security Beur Central Jail here, where during a surprise check IG (Prisons) Deepak Kumar Singh had found a large number of unidentified visitors meeting the incarcerated RJD MP Pappu Yadav earlier this month.

Four mobile phones, including that of Pappu Yadav, and some VCDs were seized during the raid today, official sources said.

Asserting that it was committed to checking crime in Bihar, the court, which was hearing a PIL by the Indian Medical Association, observed the entire administrative machinery in the state had failed and expressed dissatisfaction at the reply of the officials on the growing trends of kidnapping and extortion.

Taking cognisance of reports of jail officials conniving with the criminals, a Division Bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Nagendra Rai and Mr Justice S.N. Hussain, directed the Chief Secretary, the police chief, the Home Secretary and the IG (Prisons) not not to involve the district police and jail security staff in the raid.

To make the operation more effective, the Bench ordered that the raid on the Beur jail be conducted under the supervision of the Patna District and Sessions Judge.

The media too was directed to delay the release of the news by an hour to ensure that the jailed criminals did not not get any clue about the search.

The court also asked the state government to request the Centre for the deployment of CISF personnel in jails in Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Buxar.