Jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal member of Parliament Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav spoke to Bihar Jail Minister Raghvendra Pratap Singh and many other ministers and officials on the mobile phone which was seized from him during a raid on Beur jail on Wednesday, official sources said.

The raid ordered by the Patna high court was a part of a crackdown on criminals operating kidnapping-extortion rackets from jails.

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Singh, when contacted by PTI, admitted receiving a call from Yadav. "He had a talk with me for less than a minute on November 18. Immediately, I asked the then Beur Jail Superintendent P K Jha, who is under suspension now for allowing unauthorised visitors to the MP in the jail, if the call was made from his [SP's] office. When the superintendent denied, I ordered him to search the ward where Yadav is lodged and he [the superintendent] informed me that nothing objectionable was found," the minister told PTI.

Another minister Shayam Razak, whose telephone number appeared on the mobile phone, said: "People talk to me about problems, and I do not enquire from where one is calling."

The sources said that a print-out of the cell phone bill, which was recovered from a shoe of the MP, had telephone numbers of many other Bihar ministers and Yadav's wife and Lok Janshakti Party MP from Saharsa, Ranjeeta Ranjan.

The Madhepura MP, who is lodged in the Beur jail in connection with the murder of Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Ajit Sarkar, was also in touch with many civil and police officials in his constituency and elsewhere on the mobile.