Three persons were arrested and an FIR was lodged against around 1,000 people on Friday, a day after people protesting against a rape ransacked Sarai police station.

Hajipur sadar sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Kailash Prasad said the arrested persons were named in the FIR. The trio have been forwarded to jail on the charge of inciting a mob to attack the police station, compelling the cops to open fire. Randhir Paswan, one of the two persons injured in the firing, succumbed to injuries at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Thursday night.

The SDPO said the identity of the rest of the accused would be ascertained with the help of video footage and photographs published in newspapers. “We have requested the representatives of electronic media to cooperate with the police and provide us the video clips so that the identity of the attackers could be ascertained easily,” he added.

Vaishali superintendent of police Upendra Kumar Sinha said the situation was limping back to normal at Sarai market. Additional police forces had been deployed in sensitive villages, he said.

The entire Sarai market turned into a fortress after a large number of armed policemen were deputed in the area.

The SP said the case was being probed from different angles. “Majority of the protesters were from outside. They even clashed with people while enforcing bandh in Sarai market,” he said, adding that those took taking law in their hand would be dealt with sternly.

Inspector-general (Tirhut zone) Gupteshwar Pandey did not rule out the involvement of extremists in the attack. “The manner the police station was attacked is similar to that carried out by rebel outfits,” he told The Telegraph over phone from Muzaffarpur.