New Delhi: CDs and pen drives with "abusive and highly objectionable songs" were "distributed well in advance" in all Bihar districts that witnessed communal flare-ups before, during and after Ram Navami, a seven-member fact-finding team of journalists and social activists has found.

The report, released on Monday by the NGO United Against Hate, said: "The team also learnt that the same lyrics were played through loudspeakers in... affected districts, indicating that it was done through a centralized production."

Prashant Tandon, one of the authors of the report, said the violence "was planned on an industrial scale. Swords were procured online in large numbers. The home secretary said that though Intelligence knew about it, they were unable to stop it."

The report quotes principal secretary (home) Amir Subhani as saying that around two lakh swords were reportedly purchased from an online portal.

Sagrika Kissu, who was part of the team, said: "We found saffron flags hanging inside a police station in Nalanda, with Jai Shree Ram and Bajrang Dal written on them... The police have also arrested random people. A person named Khursheed Ahmed, who informed the police that a mob with saffron flags was indulging in violence Aurangabad, was arrested."

The report also lists examples of communal harmony amid the mayhem.

It quotes the maulana of Samastipur's Zia ul Uloom madarsa Nazir Ahmed Nadvi as saying that if his neighbour, one Dr Ashok, had not helped children climb over the wall and hide them in his house, the mob of 4,000 would have "killed them all".

Former JDU MP Ali Anwar Ansari said: "From talking to people, I have learnt that people were brought from other areas and villages for the violence. Political parties should have actively countered this."