Patna, Feb 22 (IANS) A Bihar Police officer has performed special prayers in a police station seeking divine intervention to control crime in a state notorious for murder, extortion and where hardly a day passes without reports of at least one or two kidnappings.

Rita Kumari, the officer-in-charge of the industrial area police station in Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali about 30 km from here, organised a special 'yagna', or fire rituals, to check rampant violence.

Rita, in her 30s, said proudly: "The prayers are the first of their kind to be held in any police station in the state. Apart from police officers, dozens of people turned up to participate."

The religious event lasted many hours. "I performed the rituals according to the Hindu priest's advice, asking for god's blessings to change the mindset of criminals and to check the crime graph here. I strongly believe that it will help create a crime-free society," Rita told IANS over the phone from Hajipur.

The police station was specially decorated for the occasion and arrangements were made for 'prasad'. The prayers and rituals were carried out by four traditionally clad priests amid recitation of religious scriptures, said officials.

The policemen and local people went on singing and dancing to religious songs for hours after the yagna was over.

The special prayers have become the talk of the town. "Dozens of local people called the police station to inquire about whether this was really true," said a police official posted there.

Rita Kumari is not the only police officer to believe that crime can be controlled with the help of divine intervention. Some months ago a DIG from Muzaffarpur had delivered a discourse at a function organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) urging locals to follow religious guidelines to control crime.

The rising crime graph in the state is one of the main worries of the Nitish Kumar administration. When he took over as chief minister in 2005 he had promised to turn Bihar into a crime-free area within three months. But police records continue to suggest otherwise.