Patna: Police have stepped up security in and around courts in the wake of the murder of Maoist-gangster Santosh Jha on the Sitamarhi court premises on Tuesday.

Litigants and visitors at courts on Wednesday had to go through door-frame metal detectors. Handheld metal detectors were also used and security personnel, including women, frisked visitors.

In Aurangabad, havildar Dharmendra Singh, constable Pritam Pal and constable Nagmani Kumar were suspended after they were found to be lax in their duty on the court premises.

Security in and outside the Patna civil court was also tightened.

Across Sitamarhi, security personnel carried out vehicle checking drives. The entire town has virtually been turned into a fortress after Tuesday's murder on the court premises.

A team of forensic experts visited the Sitamarhi court premises and collected samples of blood stains and used cartridges.

Police teams conducted raids in East Champaran and Sheohar districts to nab the two murderers who had managed to escape after killing Santosh. The police suspect the involvement of a contract killers' gang in the murder of Santosh, who was awarded life term in the Darbhanga engineers double murder case in March this year. A juvenile who had escaped from a Motihari remand home is on the radar of the cops, sources said.

The prison directorate on Tuesday night transferred the superintendents of 11 jails, including Rajiv Jha from Shaheed Khudiram Bose Central Jail, Muzaffarpur. The superintendents of Madhubani district jail, Munger district jail, Bettiah district jail, Katihar district jail, Nawada district jail, Begusarai district jail, Sheohar district jail, Bagaha sub-divisional jail and Naugachhia sub-divisional jail were also shifted.

Sources said the transfers followed seizure of objectionable articles from the jails during surprise inspections on August 11 this year.