Bhagalpur, April 19: Maoists called for a bandh yesterday to protest the arrest of Baidyanath Tiwari, the secretary of the Jharkhand-Bihar committee of the organisation.

The efforts of the police in Bhagalpur and Munger divisions in ensuring peaceful panchayat elections received a major setback.

A number of violent incidents were reported on Monday. Around 8.30pm last evening, a group of 40-50 armed Naxalites seized three passenger vehicles — a Commander, an autorickshaw and a Tata Magic — along with two motorcycles near Gangti Nari under Murada panchayat in Haveli Kharaghpur sub-division in Munger and set them on fire.

A.K. Chanda, the sub-divisional police officer of Haveli Kharaghpur, said since the area was extremely inaccessible, police could not reach the spot at night. A senior police officer said: “They had called a bandh for a specific reason but for the major part of the day, they indulged in anti-panchayat poll campaigning.”

“We have to recalculate our strategies to ensure peaceful polls. The bandh was nothing but another effort by the rebels to spread panic among the people,” the police officer said.