Ranchi/Chandil, April 19: With 72 hours to go for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Jamshedpur, Maoists shot dead two persons in Seraikela-Kharsawan early today, while imposing its third state bandh in one month.

About 15 Maoists opened fire on three trucks — two going from Ranchi to Jamshedpur and one returning — between Chilgu and Bhuiyandih along NH33 under Chandil police station around 2am and killed a cleaner identified as Mubarak Khan (19) and the driver of a truck instantly.

Another driver was injured critically. One of the trucks carrying spare parts for Tata Motors was set afire.

Sub-inspector Dhananjay Singh of Chandil police station claimed he had reached the spot within four minutes of the incident and confronted the rebels, who “sneaked into the Dalma hills firing back at the police”.

He showed The Telegraph seven empty cartridges lying at the spot from where the Naxalites had fired at the trucks.

The police have sent the bodies to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College mortuary for post-mortem.

The Maoists had called a bandh in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand against price rise and inflation and for a rollback of 20 per cent more tax on kendu leaf.

Laxman Prasad Singh, the superintendent of police, Seraikela-Kharsawan, said pamphlets in Bengali were recovered from the spot, which demanded of the state government poverty eradication and check on inflation.

Ranchi University examinations scheduled for today bore the brunt of the bandh, too.

“The examinations of Part-III graduation and Part-II postgraduation were cancelled. New dates would be announced later,” said S.S. Akhtar, RU spokesperson.

Some colleges, which were to hold Internal examinations for intermediate classes, too, postponed them.